In a recent Q&A on the FacilityCare website, consultant Brad Keyes answered a question about suite entrance doors.
Q: Our hospital has two different suites with double egress/entry doors, and The Joint Commission surveyor noted that these doors are supposed to have latching hardware because they are “corridor doors.” However, in my experience, cross-corridor doors are not typically required to have latching hardware. Can you weigh in on this?
A: According to the Life Safety Code, suites are nothing more than rooms, albeit a large room with smaller rooms inside. Therefore, corridor entrance doors to suites must positively latch, because corridor doors are required to latch, according to Section 18/19.3.6.3.2 of the 2000 LSC.
The factor that throws people off is that what looks like a corridor inside a suite is not a corridor — it is a communicating space.
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