There are a vast number of things restaurant and retail managers deal with.  In high risk areas one of those is keeping the vagrants, vandals, and thieves out of customer restrooms. While it’s neither glamorous nor edge-of-your-seat suspenseful, this is an issue that plagues every restaurateur and general manager in urban or other high risk areas. Urban restrooms require a special kind of lock, security, and loss prevention approach.

What are the Issues in Urban Restrooms?

Issues range from blatant theft to pointless vandalism.  Our customers have seen it all from missing fixtures to smashed up sinks to tagged walls. Unfortunately, without a lock that allows restaurant and store staff to control entry, the problem will continue.

What Are Other Managers Using On Their Urban Restrooms?

So what’s the solution?  There are a handful of options available in the lock world including:

1. LockNet’s Restroom Strike Kit – an access control style solution that opens the lock when staff pushes the button for patrons.
2. Alarm Lock DL 4100 – a push button lock with a code that can be regularly changed for easy control of entry.
3. KABA EPlex 2000 – similar to the Alarm Lock, this lock contains a push button keypad with a code to control entry.
4. MARKS iQwik – also in the category of push button locks access is controlled by a push button keypad that allows staff to control entry.
5. Nik-O-Lock – a tried and true method of access control, patrons must use a coin provided by staff, or a quarter to unlock the restroom door.

While these push button locks all do the same thing, there are a few small differences among them like the number of codes each lock holds, available finishes, etc.

Check out the video below to see how push button locks work.
http://youtu.be/xj0HoLbAWco

Urban Restroom Lock Solutions – The Feedback

We spoke to the general managers of locations who have one of these locks in place to see how it was working out for them.

“It’s great at keeping the riff-raff out.”

“In the last 7 months we’ve only had 2 instances of vandalism. It’s great.”

“We only hear complaints when they aren’t allowed in.”

“We’ve only had one warranty replacement. It’s a lot better than it was before.”

“After recently removing the Alarm Lock, we’ve noticed a rise in vandalism. We were better able to filter patrons with the locks.”

While these urban restroom solutions are a great way to protect your urban restrooms, they don’t come without challenges. There are a few ADA and life safety issues that must be addressed:

• Push Buttons – These are not ADA compliant.
• Thumb Turns – These are not Life Safety NFPA 101 compliant.  Code requires single action egress.

This post was adapted from a spotlight presentation at the 2013 NFSSC conference and originally appeared in the August edition of LockNet’s newsletter “The Open Door” (What’s that? You’re not getting The Open Door? That can easily be fixed by clicking here to subscribe.) Check out this slide deck on SlideShare to see the entirety of the presentation. 

How are your managers dealing with these issues in their urban restrooms? We’d love to hear your thoughts and if you have any questions leave it in the comment section below.
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