Lone worker safety vs fire escape route

[ClaireCustard]

Help!

I am responsible for H&S in an office, which is converted from two old houses. Each house has a main front door, which is a fire exit. These doors both have to be kept unlocked at all times when staff are on the premises.

However, some staff have said that if they are alone in the office, they do not feel safe having all the doors downstairs unlocked, in what is not a great area, especially after dark.

What can I do? The doors are wooden double doors that open outwards, so I can't put push bars on them. Any suggestions?

Internal release button?

A sensor on the door that activates a buzzer if it opens?

Lep pad locks
I think the staff are right to be concerned

They are right to be concerned. Surely it should be relatively easy for a company to fit an entry system with an internal release button on the door?

If they open outwards as you say it is possible to put push bars on them so they can be opened from inside. If that is a typo and they open inwards you need to get them changed. Fire exit doors should, wherever practicable, open in the direction of escape, i.e. outwards.

The staff are right. The chances of someone dodgy trying to gain entry when there is a vulnerable lone worker are higher than the chances of a fire spontaneously breaking out. Go back to the point where someone or something ruled that the doors need to be kept unlocked at all times. Look at the actual rules. I would expect it actually says "must not require any key to allow opening" - so a crash bar for example would resolve it. Some money will need to be spent for a solution but your role with responsibility for health and safety doesn't start and stop with fire safety at the expense of security from other threats.

Thumb turn thing in the lock on the inside?