Can a fire door be locked?

The escape rule

Article 14 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 deals with emergency routes and exits. Where it applies, emergency doors must open in the direction of escape and must not be so locked or fastened that they cannot be easily and immediately opened. Routes and exits must be kept clear.

In practice that means a door on a way out of a workplace, a stair or a communal corridor should not need a key, a code or a card to open from the escape side. Someone running from a fire cannot be expected to find a key. Doors like that often use panic bars, push pads or a thumb turn.

Locking such a door from the escape side, or chaining it at night, is the commonest way a fire door ends up breaking the rule. Our page on external fire doors and final exits covers exit doors, and fail safe and fail secure locks explains how electric locks behave when the alarm sounds.

Flat entrance doors

The Fire Safety Act 2021 made the doors between flats and the common parts part of the Fire Safety Order for blocks with two or more sets of domestic premises. A flat door normally has a lock, and the resident has a key. A locked flat door is not what the rule is aimed at. Our advice is that a flat door should be openable from inside without a key where the escape route allows it, as a thumb turn does, but we have not found a rule that says so for every flat.

What matters most to the fire rating is that the door shuts and latches. A door that is locked but has a latch that does not engage is not doing its job. For more on flat doors, see fire door regulations for flats.

Locks and the fire rating

A fire door is tested as a complete assembly, with a particular leaf, frame, seals, hinges, closer and lock. Change one part and the door may no longer match the test evidence. Cutting a bigger hole for a lock, fitting a surface bolt, or drilling for a letterbox can all remove the protection that the door was built with.

Use a lock that the door's manufacturer or its certification allows. Our guide to fire door hardware explains what to ask for. A door fitted with a lock that is not approved should be treated as a fault in an inspection report.

What to avoid

• Bolts, hasps or padlocks on a door that is an escape route
• Keyed locks on escape doors when the building is occupied
• Electric locks that stay locked when the power fails or the alarm sounds, unless the door has a manual release
• Adding a lock or a bolt to a fire door without checking it is allowed for that door
• Leaving a door deadlocked from the inside so the latch cannot work

When to ask for advice

If you are not sure whether a door can be locked, ask the person who wrote your fire risk assessment. The answer depends on the building, its fire strategy and who uses it. We can inspect the doors and tell you what hardware is fitted. See our fire door inspections page.

Sources

• Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 14 (emergency routes and exits)
• Fire Safety Act 2021, section 1