Product compliance – emergency exits, panic hardware and UL 305

The origins of the panic hardware device are directly tied to an event that occurred in Chicago on 30 December 1903. On that day, approximately 2,000 individuals were attending a matinee performance of Mr. Bluebeard, starring the popular comedian Eddie Foy, at the recently opened Iroquois Theatre. The theatre became a part of life-safety history when a spotlight started a fire that swept through the auditorium, resulting in the loss of life of over 600 victims and more than 200 injured.

Many attendees perished as the audience tried to exit the building while the fire began to engulf the inside of the theatre. The understandably panicked audience’s attempt to escape the building led to many victims being killed by the stampede effect that was magnified due to the locked doors, inward-swinging openings and blocked exits. The unfortunate lessons learned from this fire have led to numerous improvements in egress and life safety which are often unknown to anybody who enters or leaves a public space.

One significant result was to legislate that doors in the path of egress must swing out in the direction of travel to prevent stampeding in an emergency, thus giving birth to the use of outward-swinging doors on the exterior of commercial structures. The second major result concerned the proper use of hardware on door openings, which must remain unlocked in the direction of egress and not impede the flow of people in an emergency.

Two inventors from Indianapolis, Carl Prinzler and Henry DuPont, then created the first door hardware designed to allow egress out of a building while providing security and locking features on the exterior side of the door. Their invention, consisting of a crossbar activating a latch mechanism, combined with the concept of the outward-swinging door, has since become a fundamental building block of life safety and egress in schools, hospitals, theatres and other public buildings worldwide.

As life safety progressed as a field of study, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) began efforts to codify best practices for building exits. It did this through a series of pamphlets published in 1912, 1916 and 1918 and, ultimately, the first edition of the NFPA 101 Life Safety Code in 1927 under its original name, the Building Exits Code. The NFPA 101 Life Safety Code has become a widely adopted document with nine states and all federally funded building projects requiring conformance to the code in the United States (U.S.). Where it has not been explicitly adopted, it has become a de-facto expectation for egress in buildings in the U.S. and other regions, including South America, Central America and the Middle East.

Due to the nature of NFPA 101 being an enforceable code or regulation in the U.S. and other jurisdictions globally, it specifies the standards deemed acceptable for the building openings and constructions regulated by this code. For the critical life-safety hardware invented by Prinzler and DuPont and now manufactured by dozens of companies around the globe, the minimum Standard for testing has become UL 305, the Standard for Safety Panic Hardware. This Standard was the successor to various accident, installation and manufacturing-related criteria used by UL Solutions to evaluate panic hardware since 1920, when the first panic hardware listing was approved for publication. UL 305 was explicitly developed as a test method focused on evaluating panic hardware for use in emergency exits. We published the first edition of the Standard in 1955, and it has been used continuously through today’s Sixth Edition. It is pertinent to mention that UL 305 has become a referenced mandatory requirement in The International Building Code (IBC) published by the International Code Council (ICC).

The IBC document is important for any company interested in exporting as the regulation is enforced in every U.S. state through various editions. IBC-sourced content can also be found in the building regulations in multiple places in the Middle East.

With an understanding of the origins of the panic hardware device, building regulations and the Life Safety Code and how they interrelate with each other, we will now turn the focus to the UL 305 test method and the four critical tests that make up the Standard. A product must pass the endurance, emergency operation, elevated ambient exposure and low-temperature impact tests described in the Standard to receive certification as a UL Certified panic device or exit lock. These tests are intended to verify quality components and design and to check the strength and ability of the latches and actuating devices to operate under load. A brief summary of each test is listed below:

Endurance Test – A panic hardware device must complete 100,000 consecutive cycles of operation without failure or excess wear. The device must be installed on a test fixture replicating a door and is operated at a maximum rate of 15 cycles per minute. No lubrication beyond what is provided by the factory or the manufacturer’s recommendation is permitted.

Emergency Operation Test – With the door in the latched position and no external forces, the release mechanism must be constructed such that the application of a 66N or less horizontal force will actuate the actuating push pad or cross bar and unlatch from the strike(s). This test is conducted before and after the endurance test. The measurements must be made at the centre and a location 38mm in from each end of the actuating surface in a direction perpendicular to the door in the direction of swing.

After the conclusion of the endurance test and the measurements of the post-endurance force to operate the test, an additional operational force test is required. This test measures the amount of force needed to unlatch the device when overcoming an external force on the door. The latched door or doors are to be loaded with 1,100N of force, applied horizontally at the midpoint of the outer edge(s) during this test. Under the loaded door conditions, the actuating push pad or cross bar must withdraw the latches and allow the door to open with an applied force on the actuating push pad or cross bar of 220N or less. The actuating push pad or cross bar cannot be deformed or bent during this test. A minimum 25.4mm space between the cross bar and the door face must be present when the horizontal force is applied to the crossbar.

For products subject to the elevated ambient exposure test and/or the low-temperature impact tests listed below, the emergency operation tests must be conducted again after completing either test.

Elevated Ambient Exposure Test – This test applies specifically to products containing materials with a solidus point of less than 538°C. In this test, two complete samples must be placed in an air-circulating oven at a temperature of 204°C for seven hours. One of the two samples is to have been subjected to the endurance test and emergency operation test before the exposure. After oven exposure, this sample will be cooled and subjected to another set of emergency operation tests. The second sample is to be subjected to a physical examination immediately after the oven exposure to test that the mechanism works as intended and there is no degradation of materials that would prevent the device from operating properly.

Low-Temperature Impact Test – This test applies specifically to any panic device, including operating parts with a solidus point of less than 538°C. The device must function as intended with no visible signs of damage and comply with the requirements of the emergency operation test after being subjected to:

Minus 20°C environment for a duration of seven hours
Three impacts by a swinging pendulum consisting of a solid steel door cylinder ram with a hemispherical end. The impacts must be made against a foamed polystyrene impact buffer attached to the panic device mounted to the surface of a door. The requirements for the pendulum, direction of travel and the weight are as described in the standard. The impacts must be applied while the door is closed and to the left, right and centre areas of the actuating device.

For products sold in Canada, the Canadian National Standard, CAN/ULC-S132, the Standard Method Of Tests For Emergency Exit And Emergency Fire Exit Hardware, has an additional opening force test where the amount of force needed to actuate the device and open the door must be measured at the left, centre and right sides of the device both before and after the endurance test. This is the only additional requirement necessary to qualify a product for both the U.S. and Canadian markets during testing. If the product is intended to be installed and used on fire-door assemblies, additional testing in accordance with the ANSI/UL 10C, the Standard for Positive Pressure Fire Tests of Door Assemblies, must be completed.

When a fire rating is required, the device must be tested on doors that swing in and out of the furnace. The hardware must control the deflection of the door, keep the continuous engagement of the latches in the strikes, and maintain the integrity of the opening through the fire and hose stream endurance tests. No development of holes or gaps through the door and limited flaming is permitted. For products that comply with panic and fire testing standards, the terminology changes as they are referred to as fire-exit hardware instead of panic hardware. The change in wording is deliberate to ensure that the end-user or building regulatory official can be sure the right product is used in the right location regardless of outward appearance. As an additional point of difference between product types, fire-exit hardware cannot be equipped with any mechanical form of latch hold-back or latch retraction, commonly known as ‘dogging’.

Let’s look beyond the UL 305 requirements for panic hardware. It is common for panic hardware devices to also be evaluated against the BHMA-sponsored ANSI/BHMA A156.3 test standard for exit devices and ANSI/UL 294, the Standard for Access Control System Units, for products that are part of a delayed egress system. The ANSI/BHMA A156.3 builds on the mechanical performance testing of UL 305 with added emphasis on product performance through mandatory increased cycling tests, architectural finish requirements, exterior trim tests and strength requirements. The delayed egress function allows for exit devices to be utilised to limit allowed egress through an opening until after a specified duration of time, as permitted by the building regulations. This function is intended for use in areas where an opening may be needed for egress in an emergency but should be secured in day-to-day operations. These devices are often used in combination with magnetic locks and access-control devices to manage the time duration and the release of the door leaf or door hardware for operation.

The topic of life safety and door openings is multifaceted. The panic devices used daily in our offices, hotels and hospitals have become essential components of these egress openings. Dependence on these components has resulted in a level of performance such that building regulations require panic devices to bear a third-party certification mark to be accepted by regulatory authorities. To meet the challenge of compliance and market acceptance, UL Solutions provides third-party testing, certification and ongoing factory surveillance programmes.

UL Solutions recently opened a hardware testing laboratory in Telford, United Kingdom, offering full UL 305 testing capabilities in a convenient location. This laboratory, which also offers EN 1125 testing capabilities, allows manufacturers to meet the needs of multiple global markets with one testing partner. UL Solutions has also opened a fire testing site in Blockley, Gloucestershire, in partnership with the Fire Protection Association (FPA), to provide further safety testing for the door and window manufacturing industry.

Increased life-safety requirements, test standards such as UL 305, and a type of product created by two inventors a century ago have improved the safety of buildings and minimised loss of life. Still, any opportunity to further reduce or eliminate situations like those seen on that fateful December day in 1903 must be taken seriously. Properly tested and certified panic hardware is one way to achieve that goal.

Learn more about panic and emergency hardware.