5 Easy Places to Incorporate Status Indicators in Your Building

Today, whether you are planning spaces for schools or commercial buildings, privacy and security are more important than ever.

In schools, within the initial seconds following an emergency alert, teachers are tasked with a multitude of critical, potentially life-saving duties. Perhaps the most important of all is to ensure the classroom door is locked. According to testimony presented to the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission, an active shooter has never breached a locked classroom door by defeating the lock.

In the commercial sector, as companies strive to attract top talent, many are not only getting creative with their program offerings but are also looking more critically at the types of spaces they provide – with some designing private spaces where employees can escape and savor some alone time.

In this blog, we will cover the 5 easiest places to include status indicators in your buildings that not only keep the occupants safe but offer value to the everyday experience.

Status indicators for K-12 and higher education classrooms

With highly visible mortise lock status indicators, educators and employees can quickly assess if a door is secure or a space is occupied – even from a distance.

The most effective mortise lock status indicators have large viewing windows, include a reflective coating that facilitates visibility in low-light conditions, and are designed to provide 180-degree, wide-angle visibility.

Given the need for schools and businesses to customize building products to suit their unique needs, it’s beneficial if indicators are available in different colors, and with graphics and text in various languages. In addition, to assist teachers in high-stress situations, it’s beneficial to have engraving on the indicator that clearly indicates in which direction to turn the key or thumbturn to lock a door.

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Private spaces for nursing mothers

According to the most recent figures from the National Center for Health Statistics, the average maternity leave in the U.S. is 10 weeks; however, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization suggest newborns consume only breast milk for at least six months. That means, for 14 weeks after they return from maternity leave, many new moms will require a private space in which to express breast milk several times a day.

Legislation requiring employers with 50 or more employees to provide private spaces for nursing mothers went into effect in the U.S. in 2010. According to the language of the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act, employers are required to provide nursing mothers a space, other than a bathroom, which is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, for up to one year following birth.

Will your organization soon need a space like this? Upgrading a lock on a private room with a high-visibility mortise lock is a cost-effective alternative to building a brand new private space.

Increase employee retention with private mindfulness spaces

In recent years, mindfulness and meditation have gone mainstream. Some studies have even shown that mindfulness can have the same benefits for adults as antidepressants. That’s why leading companies like Google, Nike, Apple, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs are all investing in mindfulness training as a way to reduce turnover and absenteeism and to help employees manage stress.

A growing number of schools are turning to mindfulness to help students manage anxiety – an affliction that affects one in 5 American children. These companies and educational institutions are designing specific spaces for mindfulness and mediation and actively encourage employees and students to take time out of their daily routine to practice.

Boost cognitive performance in the office with nap spaces

In recent years, studies have suggested that a 10-20 minute nap at work can facilitate creative problem solving, improve logical reasoning and bolster cognitive performance. And, these benefits are not restricted to sleep-deprived employees: studies have shown that even well-rested individuals can benefit from naps.

That’s why many of the world’s largest companies including Google, Nike, Cisco, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Proctor & Gamble encourage workplace naps by providing private napping spaces equipped with nap pods or beds where employees can rest and rejuvenate during the day.

Create a space for gender-neutral privacy

The most obvious place to include a status indicator—and where most of us are familiar with interacting with one—is a restroom.

A recent study revealed that 58 percent of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals reported that they have avoided going out in public due to a lack of safe public restroom facilities. Currently, more than 20 U.S. states have statutes that protect against gender identity discrimination in public and private sector employment.

Recently, the push for all-gender restrooms has been making legal headway in the U.S. to ensure transgender and non-binary individuals feel safe using the bathroom. As a result, many businesses and educational institutions are reconfiguring building spaces to include gender-neutral restrooms to encourage acceptance of non-binary people, transgender people, and those who choose not to conform to gender norms.

Because high-visibility status indicators can be installed on either the inside or outside of doors, they are ideal for use on restroom doors, including gender-neutral and teacher restrooms, and other spaces that require privacy.

Adding a status indicator is an easy way to improve the functionality of your space

In many cases, facilities can easily upgrade existing mortise locks to include enhanced status indicators. In commercial and educational spaces where privacy and security is critical, mortise lock status indicators clearly reveal the status of spaces, whether they are occupied or vacant, locked or unlocked, either up close or from a distance.

When it comes to security and privacy, one small change can deliver big benefits.

Learn how you can start the process of retrofitting status indicators by getting in touch with our specialists today. {contact_our_team_today}