Rescue Door System

[Wongo]

I saw this on TV today http://www.specialisedsafetysolutions.com/products.htm


Why can’t they just put a door knob without a lock?

[silentC]

Because someone might walk in when you are on the loo.

It must have a two way hinge as well. But most privacy sets have a slot that you can put a screw driver in to unlock them from the outside anyway. Looks like the invention that nobody needs.

[Wongo]

Or keep a spare key?

[Stuart]

Imagine how much it costs cf a solution that is actually sensible?

[atregent]

Chainsaw. Perfect. Especially if the person who has collapsed is against the door, which would be the only reason you couldn't open it anyway.

I thought the regs required rooms like the loo and small bathrooms to have lift off hinges and a lock that can be opened from the outside anyway.

[Pulse]

G'day Wongo,

You sometimes see doors like that in hospitals, its a BCA requirement for certain class buildings if there is less that 1.2 or 1.4m (I think) between the loo and the door. I've had to put an outward opening door on a loo in a small shop. It's to get someone out if they collapse against the door.

Cheers
Pulse

[Stuart]

I thought the regs required rooms like the loo and small bathrooms to have lift off hinges and a lock that can be opened from the outside anyway.In a private home? I doubt it.

[silentC]

Sure is. We had to swing our dunny door to open outwards.

[thebuildingsurv]

Lift off hinges are required in dwellings when pan is within 1.2 metres of door swing

[silentC]

Lift off hinges OR outward swinging door is required etc...

In NSW anyway.

[thebuildingsurv]

yeh or that BCA aussie wide reg

[Disston]

I know of an elderly person who had the following modifications to an inward opening toilet door
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p>
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1 <!--[endif]-->Steel hinge pins replaced with breakable ones (some type of plastic, to break the door open from the hinge side).
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2 <!--[endif]-->A tether from the top of the door (hinge side) to the architrave (to stop the door falling on the person inside).
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3 <!--[endif]-->Nails removed on the door stops on the jamb and replaced with some screw eyes (to assist in manoeuvring the door in the opening with a person collapsed on the floor)
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p>
I think the work was done by Veterans Affairs.

[Wongo]

My point was why go through all that trouble to solve a simple problem.

All the interior doors in our house have no locks. The rule is if the door is closed then someone is in there. Simple.

[silentC]

Doesn't matter whether the door is locked or not if someone has passed out on the floor, how are you going to open it if it opens inwards?

[Wongo]

I seeeeee....:o

[savage]

I think it is a good idea, my Dad died in exactly that way the only difference was it was the bathroom not the loo. He collapsed against the door and Mum could not get to him, the Dr's said that he was dead before he hit the floor, but Mum had to listen to the "rattle" of his last breaths from the other side of the door.

Even if this system was fitted he would not have survived, but Mum always say's she felt bad that his last breath was alone on a cold floor. The ambo's worked on him for 25 min's but they told me afterwards that he never had a chance and it was just what they have to do. They where very apologetic, but I was in the fire brigade at the time and I knew what was happening when they spoke to me.

[silentC]

Sorry to hear about your Dad.

It's not so much that being able to open the door outwards is a bad idea, it's just that there are simpler and cheaper ways of doing it. I also wonder how long it would take my wife or someone not familiar with the setup to remove the doorstops.

I looked at both options: lift off hinges and outward swing. With the lift off hinges, you need clearance at the top of the door to lift it up. That means doing something special with the door head so that you can lift it high enough to clear the hinge pins. Then you have to do something with the door, and with someone collapsed up against it, that might be difficult.

As it turned out, in both cases where I needed to do this type of thing, there was an adjacent perpendicular wall against which the door could swing, so swinging them outwards was a no-brainer.

The only problem is that people natually expect toilet doors to swing in and my neice thought she had locked herself in the loo the other day because no matter how hard she pulled on the door, it wouldn't open. She got a bit hysterical until she realised that it opened outwards.

[Felder]

Doesn't matter whether the door is locked or not if someone has passed out on the floor, how are you going to open it if it opens inwards?
Shove it!

Not you.......the door..:o

:p

[silentC]

What, and damage one of my expensive hollow core flush panel doors? :rolleyes:

[Felder]

Good point. You're much better off dismantling the house and leaving the door. :)