Steve Payne
Child safety kits are all made for round door knobs
Canadian Contractor canadaAnd yet building code changes are outlawing round door jobs in favour of levered handlesets in various Canadian jurisdictions
File this one under the “The Law of Unintended Consequences.” Levered door handles are becoming code – in place of round door handles – in more and more jurisdictions across Canada. This was supposed to improve “accessibility” for the aged and disabled. But our reader Jesse points out a possible side effect of these code changes…
“We don’t like the levered handles in our house because our 2 year old can now open doors to rooms that he shouldn’t get into. He can now reach the door lock and get outside by himself. The child safety kits are all made for round door knobs and I think homeowners should be allowed this choice.”
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While a great direction overall (and squarely within the Universal Design trend we’re seeing), it does create a child safety issue. If I were in the child safety industry (and manufacturing these child safety kits specifically), I’d be all over developing a safety mechanism that works with these new door handles.
As we all move forward in implementing code changes, new product and service solutions (like this one) will reveal themselves naturally. It’s the smart (and nimble) businesses who will be able to respond with what we need next.
This is (what I call) CLIENT EXPERIENCE 2.0 in action. Might be reason enough to go back and review the Code to see where other opportunities lie.
Best of business success to all who provide products and services to homeowners.
Catherine
If it is a problem with the handles, i have a round knob for my front door i bought from lowes that is a push, or turn to get in. Similar to a push bar on an emergency exit in commercial buildings. I have had it on for over a year and it works great.its made by one of the big manufactuers, schlage i think.