The New York City Fire Department has issued more than two dozen fire safety violations to PureGym locations across town, some of them related to the fitness chain's controversial egress system that features plexiglass tubes and requires a phone scan to enter and exit the gym.
According to the FDNY, at four of the seven PureGym locations they've inspected, the company "failed to maintain means of egress free from obstructions or impediments"—a specific reference to the fact that members now have to scan a QR code to exit the gym through one of the "pods," or through a nearby accessibility door.
"Our main concern with a lot of locations we've visited so far is that you need to scan a code or have specialized knowledge to get out, when you should just be able to leave," FDNY spokesperson Clare Bourke told Hell Gate. Bourke said that PureGym staff told inspectors that some of the doors next to the pods have switches that allow gymgoers to leave without scanning, but that people need to be able to exit the gym without having to know that the emergency buttons exist.