Any fabricator manufacturing windows for public buildings including health care facilities and private multiple occupancy buildings, such as student accommodation, can get extra technical and test information with Cubelock window restrictors from Newstar Door Controls.

“We know that fabricators often need extra test data and information when manufacturing windows for commercial buildings,” says Toby Staff, Managing Director at Newstar Door Controls. “This is particularly crucial for health care facilities. Additional guidance was issued five years ago within The Department of Health, Estate and Facilities Alert EFA/2013/002.

“BS EN 13126-5:2011, the test for window restrictors, was singled out as inadequate by the DoH for two reasons. Firstly, testing to 500N is inadequate in preventing a determined effort to force a window open beyond the 100mm restriction. And secondly, that locked restrictors can be forced open with commonly available flat bladed instruments as well as the ‘key’ provided. Cubelock has independent testing that exceeds the requirement of this standard.

“As recently as January 2019, there was a reported incident at Medway Maritime Hospital,” adds Toby. “A man suffered serious injuries after falling from a window on a ward at the hospital. It was believed he suffered a fractured skull, hip and jaw after falling 20 feet from a toilet window. The hospital confirmed that a patient on one of the wards fell from a ledge earlier this month after forcing a window open and climbing out.

“There is no reason why any new windows should be installed without adequate window restrictors fitted. It’s five years since the extra information was published, and products are available, including Cubelock fixed restrictors, to prevent this from happening.

“We believe that people installing the windows have not been made aware of the DoH alert and, if given the information, they will fit window restrictors that have been shown to outperform BS EN 13126. Cubelock has a range of products for different applications, and for easy reference our catalogue has all the info in it.”

To get your FREE window restrictor guide and literature please email us at sales@cubelockrestrictor.com.