Emergency Egress

[Larry Hoang]

Hi guys,

I am trying to understand building code on emergency egress/exit for my building plan (in Virginia specifically). Normally, a workplace must have at least two exit routes to permit prompt evacuation of employees and other building occupants during an emergency. More than two exits are required, however, if the number of employees, size of the building, or arrangement of the workplace will not allow employees to evacuate safely.

Which is number of employees, size of building, or arrangement of the workplace considered to have more than two exits ?

Does retail spaces have to have two exits just like a normal workplace/building ?

Are there any code explaining how far apart emergency egress have to be ? (for example, a person can not be more than 50ft, 75ft, or 100ft away from an emergency exit?

As you can tell I have not had any experiences with this so I am little confused. I appreciate all your helps. Thanks

 

[cda]

Welcome....

Can I ask what you do for a living??

 

[cda]

Your basic instincts are correct

Normally

Exiting is based on

Size of building/space

Occupant load

Occupancy type or can say use of building or space.

 

[cda]

So from there, sometimes variables come into play.

Some buildings/spaces can get away with just one exit.

I will give you my take

A retail store normally over 1500 square feet needs two exits

A business/office normally over 3000 square feet needs two exits

A place of assembly restaurant/ meeting place/ movie theater over 750 square feet need an exit.


If more than two exits are required

In a building with no fire sprinklers they have to be seperated 1/2 the diagonal distance

In a building with sprinklers 1/3

 

[cda]

A couple articles to contemplate


http://www.specsandcodes.com/articles/code_corner/The Code Corner No. 29 - Travel Distance.pdf



http://www.specsandcodes.com/articles/code_corner/The Code Corner No. 22 - Egress Width.pdf

 

[cda]

Ask away

 

[ADAguy]

Read your local building code for the chart that indicates # of exits required. It should be available on the WED.

 

[steveray]

Start with Chapter 10.....

 

[Larry Hoang]

@cda: I'm market research analysis for a small company located in VA. I am just try to collect helpful information and data for my clients. Thanks for you helps
I think I got my answer. I appreciated all your helps.

 

[Larry Hoang]

Hi CDA. You provided the examples of retail and office square footage that requires two emergency exits. Are those rules of thumbs, industry standards, or are those square foot thresholds outlined in the building codes? If it is outlined in the building codes, which code?

 

[JBI]

That would be in Chapter 10 of the Building Code, Means of Egress.

 

[ADAguy]

By code he means the IBC (a national model code) with local amendments if any.

Larry, the issue I have with "A _ _ _ _ t's" is they often fail to leave out/don't understand "it depends" as not every case is clear cut. It requires analysis by those of us who apply our codes on a daily basis.

 

[cda]

I am an analysis ???

People have called me other things

 

[BayPointArchitect]

CDA,
You are an
AbhorenT
AberranT
and no longer worthy to share the same forum as ADAguy!

btw - great answer regarding single exit versus two exits, etcetera.

 

[ADAguy]

Thank you Bay, does your Gotee cut the cold during your Lincoln winters? I never could grow one.

I have found that young analyists respond well to early a.m. coffee and donuts from lobbyists eager to impart their "wisdom" to them, given that they are not "specialists" in anything but tasked to acquire knowledge from sources previously unknown to them that they pass on to higher ups who assume that they have received correct information.