Regulations, Codes & Standards Q&A: Clinical needs locks

Q: For clinical needs locks, can occupants pass through four locked doors (patient room door, a cross-corridor door, another cross-corridor door, and a door at exit discharge) in a required single path of egress? (All options have 4 locked doors in the path.)

A: The 2012 Life Safety Code does not address any restrictions on how many doors in the path of egress may be equipped with Clinical Needs locks. Therefore, if the LSC does not prohibit it, then it is permitted.

However, not all AHJs permit it. For example; I am told that the IBC prohibits more than one Clinical Need lock in the path of egress (or, at least they used to). When I worked at the hospital, I tried to get the state to allow two locked doors in the path of egress from the Psychiatric unit but they would not allow it.

But in my travels, I have seen multiple doors in the path of egress equipped with Clinical Needs locks where permitted in various states around the country. The most common use of multiple Clinical Needs locks create a ‘Sally Port’ or ‘airlock’ that allows one locked door to open but the other locked door must be closed. This is an added security to prevent anyone from eloping.   

So, the LSC does not prohibit it, but the IBC and some AHJs do.

Brad Keyes, CHSP, is the owner of KEYES Life Safety Compliance, and his expertise is in the management of the Life Safety Program, including the Environment of Care and Emergency Management programs.