Panic Bar

A panic bar which is also commonly known as a crash bar or a push bar is an exit mechanism for unlatching a door. Panic bar makes use of spring-loaded metal bar which is installed horizontally on the side of the door that opens outwards. To open the door the button on the panic bar needs to be pushed which subsequently unlatches and opens the door.

A panic bar is a form of lever tumbler lock for unlocking a door during emergency conditions. It is fitted on a door opening outside from the area of escape, such that people can just push the door open with ease in panic situations.

The mechanism consists of a spring-loaded metal bar fixed horizontally to the inside of an outward-opening door. When the lever is either pushed or depressed, it activates a mechanism which unlatches the door allowing occupants to leave quickly from the building.

Many disastrous event like the event of the Victoria Hall disaster in Sunderland, England in 1883 in which more than 180 children died because a door had been bolted at the bottom of a stairwell, led to the legal requirement that venues must have a minimum numbers of outward opening doors as well as locks which could be opened from the inside.
Panic bars are available in MS and SS, they can also be coupled with a trim handle from the outside which is lockable such that the entry can be restricted from outside to inside while ensuring opening at all times from inside.

Also electronic panic bars are available which can be linked to an electromagnetic lock such that it can disengage the later during evacuation time.