Emergency locks have finished being installed in more than 540 pool classrooms across campus. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State
After three years, Ohio State has finished installing hundreds of locks on classroom building doors across campus.
More than 540 emergency locks were installed in the classroom spaces of 48 academic buildings from March 2018 to March 2021, according to the Department of Public Safety’s website. Robert Armstrong, director of emergency management, said the locks are supposed to increase safety in the event of an emergency.
The project began after an active attacker incident on Ohio State’s campus in 2016, when Abdul Razak Ali Artan, then a third-year in logistics management, drove a car into a crowd of people gathered outside on North Campus for a fire drill, leapt out of the vehicle and attacked the crowd with a butcher knife. Eleven people were injured. Armstrong said this led to a comprehensive review of university safety measures.
“We had a lot of requests from faculty and students for locks on classroom doors,” Armstrong said. “Up until that point, very few of the pool classrooms had the capability of being locked.”
Armstrong said the lock set selected by Theresa Thayer, assistant director of lock and key services for Facilities Operations and Development, can be locked in an emergency without making rooms inaccessible during other times. For example, Thayer said in the case of an emergency where a person needs to exit the classroom quickly, like a fire, the door will automatically unlock when the inner handle is turned.
Thayer said many locks in larger classrooms are electric and can all be turned on at once.
“Some of these spaces had 16 doors,” Thayer said. “And there’s no way that the students can scatter about or a faculty member can lock down 16 doors at one time.”
The project, overseen by Facilities Operations and Development, the Registrar’s Office and the Department of Public Safety, cost about $1 million, according to the Department of Public Safety website.
The project was originally supposed to be finished in 2019, but Thayer said the process took three years because installation had to occur when classrooms were empty or during breaks. COVID-19 caused supply delays and staffing issues at companies.
“Scheduling was a huge issue; there were months where we couldn’t schedule anything at all,” Thayer said. “It took a lot of time because of the activity in the rooms themselves.”
When a Buckeye Alert is sent out during an emergency, Armstrong said there are multiple actions an individual can take such as running, hiding or fighting, depending on the situation.
“If an emergency were to occur, this gives [students and faculty] that option to where they could lock the door and institute that hide piece,” Armstrong said.
