S 1.15 Closed windows and doors

Initiation responsibility: Building Services Manager

Implementation responsibility: Building Services, Employee

Windows and doors facing the outside of a building (balconies, terraces) must be closed whenever the corresponding rooms are not in use. Outside doors should be locked. Open windows or doors in the basement, on the ground floor, and (depending on the type of façade) possibly even on the upper floors offer burglars an ideal opportunity to enter the building, even during the normal office hours of the organisation.

Employees should be instructed to lock all doors and windows when they leave a room. If the organisation is sure that a given room will only be empty temporarily during normal working hours (as is the case with offices, meeting rooms, event rooms, and training rooms) then this rule does not need to be applied to these rooms.

No exceptions are allowed with fire doors and smoke control doors. Such doors only offer protection when they are closed; correspondingly, they must not be kept open continuously using wedges or other devices.

It is a good idea to have gatekeepers or employees in building services regularly check if the windows and doors of rooms were actually locked after everyone has left.

In meeting, event, and training rooms, there is usually no place to lock up documents, IT systems, and similar items. For this reason, it should be possible to lock such rooms or have an internal employee keep an eye on the room when everyone else leaves the room.

Review questions:

• Are there instructions stating that windows and outside doors must be locked?
• Are the windows and doors checked after everyone has left the room to make sure they have been locked?
• Is it ensured that fire doors and smoke control doors are actually closed?