In North Rhine-Westphalia, the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) issued a ruling regarding free swing door closers on the doors of private rooms in care facilities.
The plaintiff objected to the provision of the building permit granted, according to which free swing door closers must be installed on doors to private rooms in accordance with the "Directive on building supervisory requirements for the construction and operation of facilities with nursing and care services" of the state of NRW dated 17 March 2011 (note: the requirements are related to the floor plan design and the fire protection concept).
The court did not find in favour of the plaintiff and dismissed the action, stating (in extract):
"The automatic closing of the doors to the private rooms in the event of a fire can accordingly contribute effectively to ensuring that residents who are not capable of self-rescue, or only capable to a limited extent, and who are not in the room in which the fire has broken out, are protected from fire and smoke until the arrival of fire and rescue personnel, and that the escape routes themselves remain free of fire and smoke so that external rescue can take place as quickly as possible.
In the fire brigade's statement, it is made clear that rescuing five or more people from a smoke-filled area is an almost impossible task for the rescue services. Free swing door closers on the doors to private rooms can therefore help to rescue as many people as possible in the event of a fire and thus serve to protect each individual resident.
At the hearing before the Administrative Court, the representative of the fire brigade described the risk that the person in whose room a fire breaks out would no longer be able to leave the room independently only because of the free swing door closer as theoretical. She was not aware that this theoretical danger had ever materialised. The plaintiff did not name any such case either.
Against this background, the order to equip the doors of the private rooms with free swing door closers is, based on the objectives of preventive fire protection pursued, also in view of the remaining risks for individual persons in a specific fire scenario, appropriate. The plaintiff's allegation that the life of the person in whose room a fire breaks out is "sacrificed" in favour of the lives of the other occupants is beside the point."
"Decision of the OVG Münster of 4 June 2020 - 10A2913"