What Lock Status Indicators Really Should Be

By Brandon Faber

Published on Jun 05, 2024

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TownSteel Aegis Mortise Lock installed on classroom door in school hallway

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TownSteel has worked closely with educators, school district staff, school safety organizations, and school safety professionals, to understand the exacting and specific requirements for the most effective school safety. This enabled us to establish definitive requirements important to stakeholders involved in all aspects of school security and safety. Against these, we reviewed the currently available products on the market to address the classroom security requirements and found them lacking to various extents . Our school districts are therefore purchasing less than acceptable solutions and paying significant costs for them.

To resolve the situation, we developed the Aegis Bored and Aegis Mortise locks (we’ll use the term ‘Aegis’ in this post to generically refer to both) to fulfill the requirements more exactly, in a way that no other available product can. Furthermore, we’ve made these products available to customers at significantly lower prices without any quality sacrifice (and in most cases exceeding the quality of the nearest rival products).

Over the next few weeks, we’ll explain all these key features, but in this post, we’ll focus specifically on the Aegis lock’s status indicator.

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The Status Indicator and Classroom Security

A classroom door lock must remain unlocked on the inside irrespective of the lock status on the outside. This is a safety requirement to ensure occupants aren’t locked in a classroom should they need to egress in an emergency (for example a fire within the building). This requirement to be ‘unlocked’ on the inside makes it extremely challenging for the classroom occupants to be assured that the door is indeed locked (on the outside). For teachers and students inside the classroom, a status indicator providing the status of the outside of the lock offers reassurance that the door is securely locked and avoids the need to access the outside of the lock to assure the status … the very last thing a teacher should do in an intruder situation.

On the outside of the classroom door lock, the status indicator must offer clear, immediate visual feedback to anyone approaching the room. It again needs to use clear, color-coded signals (such as red for locked and green for unlocked) and legible text. This allows for easier audit of school security policy, reinforces the ongoing consciousness culter of school safety, discourages an intruder from entering the classroom, and enables law enforcement to more rapidly and safely clear the facility.

It’s also important that the indicator is identical on both sides of the lock. Some locks on the market provide double-sided indictors that have different designs on each side of the lock, only leading to confusion for users. Instead, people should feel confident in the familiarly seeing the same status everywhere. There should be no additional indication augmentation, such as side indictors, that will only cause distraction and complication during stressful situations. Designs should be straight forward without gimmicks.

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The Aegis Status Indicator Design Features

The Aegis Bored locks’ reliable design is simple and purpose-built. It’s the only bored lock in the market that features double-sided indicators. As noted above, both sides are critical to ensure safety within the classroom, and no other lock offers this assurance due to its straightforward design and familiarly.

The status indicators are large, use clear text, and are color-coded. This display provides clear and unmistakable visual feedback on the lock’s status, allowing classroom occupants to quickly determine if the door is securely locked without having to leave the room or even approach the door. This also allows them to focus on getting out of sight lines in a high-stress situation.
Because the indicators are highly visible, it allows you to see the lock’s status from multiple angles. During an emergency, this design allows law enforcement to quickly clear classrooms and hallways by easily identifying the lock status.

While the standard indicators colors are green and red, customers can order different color and message text combinations to suit their needs such as instead of using the green color for unlocked, schools could have the indicator as white or another neutral color for unlocked status. Because the indicator is identical on both sides of the door, it ensures clarity regardless of which side you are on. A simple motion on one side of the lock controls the message indicator on both sides, making it easy to use even in high-stress situations where fine motor skills may be compromised.

Aegis locks feature no unnecessary or complicated indication augmentations, such as side indicators, that could possibly lead to confusion during critical moments.

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The Most Comprehensive Solution

Status indicators on classroom locks are a critical component of school security. On the outside, they provide essential visual feedback, support security audits, and aid emergency responders. On the inside, they offer psychological comfort and ensure quick action. Aegis locks are the only ones on the market to provide indicators on both sides of the door, making it the most comprehensive solution for any school.

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The Aegis Bored Lock in 3D

Use your pointing device to explore the Aegis Bored lock further.

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Getting Help and Resources

For additional resources on addressing school safety, you can review guidelines and materials from our partners at Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS).

You can also get in touch with us directly. We’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.

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Learn more about our complete School Safety Program