Understanding Building Egress Requirements and Components

Understanding Building Egress Requirements and Components

• A means of egress must be an unobstructed path that leads a person safely out of a building. It must meet certain code requirements. Although escalators and elevators are part of general building circulation, codes do not allow them to be means of egress unless very specific requirements are met.
• There are many situations where egress doors must swing in the direction of travel, e.g., occupant load greater than 49 or in hazardous occupancies. However, if the occupant load is less than 49, the required direction of door swing is not generally specified.
• The opposite is true. They must be 10 feet wide, or more, to be considered a public way. (Width of an alley or sidewalk)
• The main difference between a corridor and an aisle is that a corridor is typically surrounded by walls while an aisle is created by furniture or equipment.
• A doorway can be larger than 48 inches wide. However, no individual leaf (panel) of a door can be more than 48 inches wide if it is part of a means of egress.
• When determining the number of exits in a multi-story building, the floor with the largest occupant load determines the number of required exits for all lower floors that lead to the ground level. However, floors below ground level may have different requirements.
• Three main interior components of a means of egress: Exit Access, Exit, and Area of Refuge. Note: Exit Discharge is not an interior component.
• Be aware that an "exit discharge" can also be an exterior element. A "public way" (the fifth of 5 exit components) is typically only an exterior portion of a means of egress.
• Area of Refuge: This egress component is not necessarily included in every means of egress path but is typically part of an accessible means of egress path.
• Public Way is always the final destination of a means of egress. Even if a disabled occupant waits for a time in an area of refuge, the code assumes the final destination of all occupants is to a public way and out of the building.
• What are two types of door pulls that can be considered accessible (though not necessarily acceptable in a "means of egress")? Panic Bar, Lever, Push-Type, U-Shaped.
• A stairway must have an intermediate landing if it rises more than 12 feet.
• In addition to an Exit sign, what other type of sign may be required by the codes? Common answers: "Not An Exit", Floor Number, Stair Number, Area of Refuge.
• A "Passageway" is a fire resistance-rated corridor that connects to an exterior exit door.
• Remotely. The first two exits must follow the half-diagonal rule. New editions of the code emphasize that the loss of one exit should not decrease the exiting capacity by more than half.
• Egress illumination required by the code in a high-rise building: Emergency Lighting and Luminous Egress Path Markings (Note: luminous egress path markings are required only in high-rise buildings).