RESCUE HARDWARE / HOLLOW CORE TOILET DOORS

IN         DARLING I'M GOING TO THE BATHROOM. 
             IF I'M NOT OUT IN 1 HOUR GET THE BIG HAMMER 
             First Published in Architect & Specifiers Bulletin Feb.2019
            Filed at Architecture & Design website Feb,2019      
          ( loo, dunny, bog or shit house in Australia ) access toilet, lavatory, wheelchair toilet, disabled toilet 
                  
I'm     Hardware or Wheelchair Access Doors & Rescue Hardware For WC doors

Wheelchair access doors and rescue equipment in both AS 1428 and the National Construction Code can be 

onerous and costly.  This report provides details for an alternate system for aged care facilities and cottage work.  AS1428 is very specific and expert advice on the location of doors is required.  NCC  Clause F2.5 requires a 

‘rescue door’ wherever a doorway is less than 1200mm from a WC pan.  Frail aged persons living at home should 

also have rescue doors fitted to all toilets for best practice.  Other code compliant manual door and hardware 
rescue systems are described below.

A    ALTERNATE SYSTEM - SIMPLY ECONOMICAL AND BUILDABLE

The ‘Angle-Shoe’ pivot system  is for simple double acting doors (opening both in and out). Refer to the 

drawing below.  The PAS35 pivots (fig. 1) have been designed for 35mm doors to 35kg.  The door is held in 

the closed position by a pair of magnets with privacy provided by a surface mounted indicator bolt inside with an emergency coin slot outside. The privacy bolt and door furniture can be chosen to suit the budget and availability.  

For rescue, release the privacy bolt from outside and open the door outwards. The hardware retails for less 

than a total of AUD$100.00 and all the elements are easy to install.  The magnets are made by ‘Delf’, ‘Precision’ 
and ‘Zanda’ (fig. 2). To retro-fit the pivots into existing cottage work is simple and easy with the re-use of both 

doors and timber frames.  Howard Styles, the writer of this report, makes the Angle-Shoe PAS35 pivots in 

his Canberra workshop and wishes to declare a financial interest. 

B    EXISTING SYSTEMS - PROS AND CONS

1    Lift-off hinges. An inward opening rescue door with lift-off hinges may be heavy.  A tool in a coin slot can 

retract a privacy bolt so the door can be opened-in sufficiently to assess the situation.  If somebody has 

collapsed behind the door then lifting the door off the hinge pins is difficult while preventing the door falling 

on the injured person behind it.  The lift-off hinge (fig. 3) has an Australian pattern of screw holes to match 

standard metal door frames. ‘McCallum’, ‘Trio’ and others make suitable products. Light doors and lifting 

handles would make lift-off hinges a much better product.

2    Outward opening doors comply and solve part of the problem. Often hydraulic door closers are requested 

to stop open-out doors impeding pedestrian traffic, particularly in corridors in healthcare facilities. Door closers 

can solve the problem but are difficult to use for the frail aged, wheelchair users and those with walking aids.

3    Double acting pivot doors (which open both in and out) provide a reliable solution (fig.4). These quality 

products are most commonly used in major healthcare facilities. ’Allegion’, ’Stanley’ and others make the 

hardware. The pivots and the escape stop are ideal for heavy solid core doors. The purchase price of the 

kit is good value however both the door and the frame preparation to house the hardware is time consuming 

as each component requires a different template, cut-out, fixing tabs and/or backplates. Casual night staff 

attending to a problems in an aged care facility may not discover the retractable stop to allow the door to open 

outwards for a timely rescue.

4    Surface mounted sliding doors, mounted internally, may be obstructed by an injured person who has 

fallen against the door. Forcing the door to the open position may aggravate injuries.  Surface sliding doors 

mounted externally are unusual in healthcare facilities. They interrupt wall protection rails and reduce the 

width of the corridors.  All sliding doors for wheelchair access need to be much wider than the 850mm 

minimum clear opening width to comply with AS1428. The clearance around pull handles in the code 

determines the door width.  In new cottage work careful planning can make externally mounted sliding 

rescue doors an easy low cost option using lightweight doors & durable sliding door hardware.

5    Pocket doors (cavity sliding doors) particularly quality rescue doorframe and hardware kits are ideal for commercial projects (eg. ‘CS Cavity Sliding Doors’).  They do need to be wide to ensure that the handles 

comply with AS1428.  The door leaf width will be close to 1020 wide for a minimum standard size wheelchair door.  

They need to be considerably wider than the required 850mm minimum clear opening width.  A complete kit of 

quality parts is best suited to hospitals and other healthcare facilities where cost planning for these costly products 

works best.  For retro-fitting into existing work substantial demolition is required for cavity sliders. In new cottage 

work cavity sliders can be a good solution for WC rescue doors.  Aim for a clear opening of 750mm (Min. 600mm).

6    Reduced swing (bi-fold) doors are available as a proprietary system (fig 5). The door opening has one 

large leaf and one half leaf hinged together in a bi-fold arrangement with a sliding door head track.  They are 

quality products for top-end hospital work. The doors both slide and pivot to open. They protrude into the 

compartment space by about half the width of the large door leaf which follows a quarter elliptical path. 

Certification by BRANZ indicates they meet the requirements of the NCC and AS1428. The push/pull/slide 

door motion can be unfamiliar for the frail aged. ‘Allegion' and ‘Spence Doors’ together supply door, frame and 

hardware required. Care with handing is required.

7    Light doors are excellent things.  Honeycomb core doors to AS 2688 & AS 2689 are pressed into a light 

torsion box of surprising strength, straightness and squareness.  They can resist a lot of abuse and more 

importantly the light doors do not cause much damage to adjacent surfaces. They can also be replaced cheaply 

and easily.

Prepared by Howard Styles - Door & Hardware Specialist Architect - Canberra - Australia        14 February 2019

Website - www.angleshoe.com.au  for other uses of the ‘Angle-Shoe’ pivots.

Email - hstyles@bigpond.net.au