Egress width

[Mech]

2018 IBC
S use group

Is egress distance between pallets regulated by the IBC? An occupant can walk toward the back of the racking and come back out. They cannot get to the racking on the other side from this side.

 

[steveray]

I'd say no....I can get to a lot of places I shouldn't.....

 

[ICE]

Well that's a cold way to treat the workers.

 

[walker.t]

Is egress distance between pallets regulated by the IBC?

Yes, it is part of the exit access.

If what you are showing is an employee’s area work area (like in the back of a building supply house) then I’d say the space between pallets is an employee work area, per IBC 2018 1104.3.1 common use circulation paths in employee work areas must be accessible routes, doesn’t look like what you’re showing in the picture qualifies for an exception. Then if it’s an accessible route what about a turning space?

An occupant can walk toward the back of the racking and come back out.

Not in what you show here, sliding in sideways is not walking.

 

[Yikes]

The photo shows storage rack systems, with pallets laded and unloaded via forklift. There are multiple tiers. At the upper tiers, clearly no one can physically reach the pallets. The forklift would bring the pallet down to the floor surface, where the pallets and the items stored on them could be handled by workers.
In the photo, the lowest tier is not touching the floor. It too is elevated, just like the tiers above it. The space where the guy is standing is not intended to be a work area. It is intended to provide a route to maintain the racks (or to be more blunt, vermin and pest control between the racks).
The fact that someone can get into the space does not mean it is intended to be a work area, any more that providing an attic crawl space and hatch means that the attic is intended to be an employee work area.

 

[Mech]

Yikes - I failed to include this in the original post: this racking is intended for workers to lift and carry stored products.

I pulled the photo from Frazier.com, Ergo series pallet racking.

I suppose the official policy could be to use the forklift to move the pallet into the aisle, remove product as needed, and then return the pallet to the rack.

 

[ICE]

I suppose the official policy could be to use the forklift to move the pallet into the aisle, remove product as needed, and then return the pallet to the rack.

How about they hire people not in a wheelchair.

 

[Yikes]

How about they hire people not in a wheelchair.

My understanding of ADAS 206.2.8 is that certain kinds of employee work areas do not need to be accessible, but "common use circulation paths" [the bigger aisle in the foreground of the photo] do need to be accessible.
Here in California, our state code defined "common use" as being interior or exterior (1) circulation paths, (2)rooms, (3) spaces, or (4) elements that are NOT for public use and are made available for the SHARED USE of TWO OR MORE people.

In the photo in post#1, unless two employees are sharing that space between the pallets, it's not a common use circulation path.

 

[walker.t]

are made available for the SHARED USE of TWO OR MORE people.

In the photo in post#1, unless two employees are sharing that space between the pallets, it's not a common use circulation path.

I always thought that “shared use” meant “available for use by more than one employee but not necessarily at the same time." So if after the person in the photo gets their materials and takes them up to a customer, if another employee can also go in the same space and get materials I thought that was “shared use.” But if the space where the person is standing was his private stash of materials it would be like a private office without walls and therefore not “common use.”

 

[arwat23]

I always thought that “shared use” meant “available for use by more than one employee but not necessarily at the same time." So if after the person in the photo gets their materials and takes them up to a customer, if another employee can also go in the same space and get materials I thought that was “shared use.” But if the space where the person is standing was his private stash of materials it would be like a private office without walls and therefore not “common use.”

Here in California at least, it's heavily implied to be a space that is usable by two people at the same time.