Lancaster County, SC Building Safety: Door Locking Hardware (2026)

Section 14-52, added by Ordinance No. 890 in 2008 as part of the Rapid Entry System article, requires any commercial structure in the county, other than those inside the City of Lancaster's incorporated limits, to install an approved key box before it can get a certificate of occupancy. The same requirement reaches back to cover existing commercial buildings that carry a monitored fire alarm system or that store or dispense hazardous materials. The key box itself must hold, among other items the fire official designates, labeled keys to every locked point of egress, interior or exterior, labeled keys to locked mechanical rooms, and labeled keys to any fenced or secured areas, plus an emergency-contact card naming at least three people.

Buildings with an automatic gate, cross-arm, or locked fence must also add a Click-2-Enter radio system, a manual key-switch backup, and an approved security padlock so fire apparatus can bypass the barrier without delay; six-story-and-taller buildings must additionally keep floor plans in the box. Owner-occupied one- and two-family homes are exempt, though multi-family buildings with a centralized sprinkler control room must still install a box at that room's entrance. The fire official sets the box's mounting height, between 36 and 72 inches from grade, with a carve-out for Lancaster County School District buildings. Existing structures had thirty-six months from the ordinance's enactment to come into compliance, and the responsible party bears the full purchase and installation cost.