This was very helpful to an issue I'm having with a permit reviewer who's reviewing a 2-story office-warehouse I'm designing.
I'm going to give in to his demands to add a second means of egress stair from a 2nd floor 'B' occupancy with 30 occupants. The Owner is cool with that.
However, based on that PDF, I believe I could argue the following:
- from the furthest corner of an office on the 2nd floor, it is 75' to the bottom of an unenclosed egress access stairway leading to the front exit door.
- it's an additional 31' from the bottom of said stair to the front door 'exit'; therefore, my total exit access distance is 106'.
- my total exit access distance limit for NS 'B' occupancy is 75' for a story with ONE exit; therefore, it seems I have to have 2 exits for the upper floor.
- however, from the bottom of said stair, I technically have access to TWO exits: the front exit door, and another exit down a hallway and through the warehouse S1 space to a side exit door.
- total egress access distance from the upper floor to that 2nd exit is 194'.
- total egress access distance for NS 'B' occupancy is 200'.
- Common Path of Egress Travel max for NS 'B' occupancy is 100'.
All that said, my main contention is this: Don't I have a 'common path of egress travel' situation, of 75' (less than 100') to the bottom of the unenclosed egress access stair, at which point I have access to TWO exits? if so, doesn't my 2nd floor already have 2 exits, including the CPET down the unenclosed stair?
Any help is appreciated, thanks!