Protecting Classrooms With Door Knobs And Locks That Make A Difference
Companies that make products like exit devices are busy with the new school year starting. Now, more than ever, there is more concern regarding school shootings and trying to keep individual classrooms safe. Door knobs and locking systems are the most ideal, and if your school is not ready for the new year with every room properly equipped with safety latches and locks on every door, you need to get hopping. Here is how the best knobs, handles, hardware, and locks can protect the students and faculty in your school.
Handles and Locks That Can Only Be Opened from Inside
Whenever there is a threat to student safety, locks and door handles that can only be opened from inside the classroom are ideal. If classroom doors have windows, make sure the windows are small enough and located high enough on the doors so that no one can break through the windows and reach down inside to unlatch the doors. All school janitors should install these handles and locks and test them a few times before pronouncing each classroom a safe and secure place for students and staff.
Locks on the Outside, Keys on the Inside
Each teacher should receive the keys that unlock his/her classroom door only. A spare key may be kept in the principal's office or the janitor's office for emergency use only, but that should not be made common knowledge to anyone but the janitor and principal. By keeping the keys on their persons, the teachers can keep doors shut and locked during emergency lockdown protocols and no one can get into the classrooms.
Be Sure All Locks and Handles Are Tamper-Proof
From the outside of the closed classroom door, it should be impossible for anyone to tamper with the lock or handle to get it to open. Check with the manufacturer to see which products are best suited to the school's needs and cannot be tampered with no matter what. Also consider heavy-duty steel doors in place of old wood ones. The steel doors make it even more difficult for anyone to tamper with the handles and locks because you cannot cut the steel as easily as you can cut wood. It is also much harder for bullets to penetrate the steel doors than it is to penetrate wood doors, a factor that plays a big part in getting out of the line of fire.
Contact a company that sells exit devices, like Division 8 Specialty Hardware, for more information.
Share