Life Safety

Life safety is a concept that trumps security measures. We may desire to simply lock everyone inside of the church to keep the evil world from entering and wreaking havoc. This does two things. First, it keeps out those who need to hear the message and second, it can trap people inside and cause injury or death in the event of a need for evacuation.

Life safety regulations need to be followed when considering any security related program. Proper egress routes need to be accessible whenever a facility is occupied. This means that doors with deadbolt locking mechanisms or locking knobs cannot be locked because they require too many motions to unlock. Doors with panic exit hardware can be locked when the facility is occupied. It would be of most benefit to the church to install panic exit hardware on all exterior doors of the building. For example, if the youth group plans an overnight lock-in event, then any exterior door that is locked by the knob/handle or deadbolt must remain unlocked during the event. If the church has panic exit hardware, then the doors can be locked. This allows for egress in case of an emergency.

Doors with electronic access control can either have a panic exit device or a sensor that unlocks the door for exit, or both. This still allows an exterior door to be locked from the outside, securing whoever is inside.

Noise exposure should be considered. Should the worship music be performed as loud as a concert? The room in which worship is conducted should have sound dampeners installed on the walls to reduce echo and reverb. Audiometric measuring instruments should be utilized to make sure that music is not outside of the safety threshold.

Hazardous materials guidelines should be followed. Some hazardous materials that may be found in the church are various cleaning supplies, ice removal chemicals, glue and paint. Proper documentation must be kept and accessible for each hazardous material that is kept on the premises.

The United States Department of Labor (www.osha.gov) provides an outline of the various life safety regulations that should be followed. Each house of worship may be different in its design and function, so how the regulations apply will be different among the different type of house of worship. OSHA regulations do not apply specifically to employees of the church who have religious functions; however, they are helpful to consider in aiding in the life safety of congregants.

Stephen Chawaga suggests, “Even though OSHA applies only to certain church activities, all churches would be advised to review OSHA’s guidelines and voluntarily adapt OSHA standards to a church environment in three ways:

• The pastor and property committee commit to a program of increased safety and develop enthusiasm for the effort through communication with the congregation.

• Church leaders regularly inspect the church grounds and buildings, identifying hazards and items that need fixing. Is the railing on the balcony loose? How old is the stepladder used by the custodial staff? This is an opportunity to do something about all those low-priority maintenance projects that never seem to get done.

• The staff can be trained to look for potential problems and report them to the property committee as soon as possible” (Chawaga, 2014).

Chawaga also states that if the church operates a day care or school, then the functions of

the day care or school fall under OSHA regulation because they are involved in interstate

commerce because books and other items are ordered from out of state vendors (Chawaga, 2014). As already suggested, however, it would be beneficial for the church to comply with OSHA life safety regulations, even if it is not required. This allows for better protection for those who are congregating within the church.

If your church is seeking additional information about adding security features and how those might impact life safety, or if you have other church security topics you need addressed, please contact Everett Hornbostel at everett@dakotabaptist.com or reach out to your Church Relations Missionary.