Means of Egress
12/18/2017
In the past, I have discussed the tragedies of the Ghost Ship Incident (an artist colony in Oakland, Ca that caught fire in December, 2016), the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Incident in New York City during the beginning of the 20th century and the Hamlet Chicken Processing Plant in 1991, North Carolina. These three incidents occurred in different locations of the country and at varied times in American history. All three were tragedies involved fire while the loss of life in each case could have been prevented – or at least, significantly reduced – if only the proper means of egress – that is, escape routes – were available. As we are ready to celebrate the Holidays, it is important that were remember that this is a time of the year when open flames, such as candles and fireplaces are an integral part of the season that present significant fire hazards. Other potential fire hazards include incompatible electrical wiring, overloaded circuits and frayed cords. And, of course, during this time of year there will be plenty of combustible materials like Christmas trees and gift-wrapping paper that will be in abundance and within close proximity to these potential fire hazards; ready to ignite and cause an incendiary fire to blaze out-of-control.
Of course the best way to reduce devastation from fires is to practice prevention. But what if an unexpected fire develops into an emergency? Do you know how to escape in an emergency? Do you have enough exits for prompt evacuation? Have your exit routes, discharges and accesses been properly designed and constructed?
The fact is, proper means of egress, whether at home or work, is essential to ensure an effective escape route to safety. One of the main differences between escape routes for work versus home, is while both environments have compulsory regulatory requirements for proper construction of means of egress, the building code requirements for residential dwellings (such as NFPA 101; Life Safety Codes), are strictly construction-oriented and have no mandatory emergency response requirements as is mandatory for work locations (OK, true some city ordinances do have emergency drill requirements for government buildings and schools). Nevertheless, we have seen that, just because regulatory requirements exist, that is no guarantee such practices are meeting compliance. And, once an unfortunate incident has occurred, there is no turning back the clock to reverse devastating consequences. Of course, we can learn from our mistakes and implement corrective actions (as should be the case with all incidents), but as illustrated with the three tragic examples mentioned above, if we are not diligent to enforce safety protocol, we will be forced to repeat unfortunate incidents for which could have been easily prevented.
From a workplace perspective, OSHA’s emergency evacuation requirements are contained under Subpart E of the General Industry Standards, 29 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) Part 1910; “Exit Routes and Emergency Planning.”
OSHA breaks down their exit route requirements within Subpart E as follows:
- Compliance with Alternate Exit-Route Codes (1910.35),
- Design and Construction Requirements for Exit Routes (1910.36), and
- Maintenance, Safeguards, and Operational Features for Exit Routes (1910.37).
In 29 CFR 1910.36, OSHA covers the basic design and construction requirements for exit routes and offers additional details in the following areas:
- Number of exit routes needed
- Exit discharge requirements
- Locking considerations for exit doors
- Design requirements for exit doors
- Capacity and size requirements for exit routes
- Considerations for outdoor exit routes
Exit routes must be a permanent part of the workplace and exits themselves must be separated by fire resistant materials. In facilities where an exit connects three or fewer stories, the materials used to construct the exit must have a one-hour fire-resistance rating; for four or more stories a two-hour fire- resistance rating is required for exit construction materials.
In addition, openings to an exit are limited to only those from occupied areas of the workplace or into the exit discharge. All openings into an exit must be protected by a self-closing approved fire door that remains closed or automatically closes in an emergency. The fire door, frame and hardware must be listed or approved by a nationally recognized testing laboratory (i.e. FM, UL, etc.).
At least two exit routes must be available unless the number of employees, size of the building, its occupancy or the arrangement of the workplace is such that all employees would be able to evacuate using a single exit route (such as office trailers). Where more than one exit route is present in a workplace, such exits must be located as far away from each other as possible to prevent all egress routes from being blocked by smoke or fire during an emergency. More than two exit routes must be available if the number of employees, the size of the building, its occupancy, or the arrangement of the workplace is such that all employees would not be able to safely evacuate via those two exits during an emergency.
An exit route door cannot be controlled by any mechanical device that could fail, thus causing the door to lock. Employees must be able to open the exit route door from the inside at all times without the use of keys, tools or special knowledge. The only exception to this would be exit route doors in correctional or mental health facilities. In those types of high security settings, supervisory personnel must be on duty at all times to ensure the facilities emergency egress plan can be appropriately implemented.
Exit routes must support the maximum permitted occupant load for each floor served and the capacity of the exit route cannot decrease in the direction of travel toward the exit discharge. The ceiling of an exit route must be at least seven feet six inches high with any projection down from the ceiling not reaching less than six feet eight inches from the floor.
Exit access ways must be at least 28 inches wide at all points. And where there is only one exit access leading to an exit or exit discharge, the width of the exit and exit discharge must be at least equal to the width of the exit access. The width of an exit route must be sufficient to accommodate the maximum load capacity of each floor served by the route. And this means that objects (packages, materials, equipment, etc.) must not reduce the width of exit routes to less than the minimum width required for the exit routes. The specific requirements for means of egress, as we can see, can be quite extensive. And while it takes an expert, such as a fire protection specialist, to fully understand the rules and subsequent ramifications, we all have the ability to at least, establish escape routes in our homes and workplaces for emergencies as well as practicing appropriate preventative measure to reduce the risk of fire hazards.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day; their old familiar carols play, and wild and sweet the word repeat of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow