Question: Our building is looking at installing electronic smart locks on all apartment doors. What do we have to be aware of regarding fire safety and access? Are they allowed, and do the locks have to be certified to ensure they comply with fire safety standards?
Answer: All fire doors, including their hardware (e.g. closer & locks) must be type tested
Electronic smart locks are not precluded from being used on fire doors to apartments; however, all fire doors, including their hardware (e.g. closer & locks) must be type tested. This means – during the approval process for any door, it gets burnt in a testing facility’s furnace to check the fire resistance level of the fire door meets a particular Fire Resistance Level or FRL.
The owners should first check with the manufacturer of the door (look for a phone number on the door tag) whether there is an electronic smart lock approved for that door type and size.
If the manufacturer does not have this on file or is uncontactable, the Australian Standard for Fire Door installation – AS1905.1-2005 states: “A different lockset shall only be substituted for the lockset on the tested specimen if it has been subjected to the fire resistance test on a doorset of similar construction, or if the essential latching components from the same manufacturer are substituted by those constructed from materials of greater or equal melting point”.
Hence, if you can get a certificate from the lock manufacturer stating the lock has been tested successfully on a similarly rated fire door (FRL -/60/30 is the term to look for), you could use them on the apartment doors.
We highly recommend you show the documentation and gain advice from your Accredited Practitioner (Fire Safety) prior to undertaking the works.
This post appears in the September 2021 edition of The NSW Strata Magazine.
Rob Broadhead
2020 Fire Protection
E: rob.broadhead@2020fire.com.au
P: 1300 340 210
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