International Egress

[LGreene]

This morning I was asked by a coworker in another country, "How do I convince a developer that he can't lock stairwell doors on the egress side, preventing access to the stairwell?" It's a building under construction - more than 100 stories. The building owner / developer (same company) wants to secure the building by locking the doors to the stairs.

Without enforceable codes, all I can say is what we would require in the US per the IBC and NFPA 101. It kills me to see tragedies like the mall fire in Qatar a couple of weeks ago, or the Mexico day care fire 3 years ago, or the hospital in India last year, or any of the other multitude of fires where lack of proper egress played a substantial part.

When a building owner or developer values security over life safety and there are no codes or no AHJs to enforce the codes, what do I tell our staff and customers who know how it should be done, but are powerless to make it happen?

 

[brudgers]

The world is a big place.

Depending on the location, locking the doors might save more lives day in and day out.

Until the big one.

It's not an unreasonable idea.

And unlocked doors might keep the building from being leased.

I'm not saying it's right.

And this is the kind of nail that door hardware can address.

 

[AegisFPE]

Such a project may be applying the I-Codes. IFC Chapter 14 deals with fire safety during construction. IFC Section 1411 is identical to IBC Section 3310, requiring 1 stairway (even if only temporary) when the constructed building height reaches 50 feet or 4 stories. The next section states that the means of egress shall be "maintained at all times during construction."

I would anticipate that an AHJ would interpret this to mean that free access to the stairway shall be maintained at all times, similar to IBC Section 1008.1.9.

Incidentally, the mall in Qatar should have complied with applicable code provisions, as reported today by Aljazeera:

The investigation committee said the fire was not premeditated and concluded there was "a status of lack of adherence to required laws, systems, and measure by all concerned parties to different degree"."This includes adherence to design, license, and safety conditions, which contributed to Villaggio Mall catastrophe," the investigators said.

The investigation concluded that the fire started at the upper floor of a Nike sports goods store after an electricity problem caused a faulty spotlight to catch fire.

 

[LGreene]

Such a project may be applying the I-Codes. IFC Chapter 14 deals with fire safety during construction. IFC Section 1411 is identical to IBC Section 3310, requiring 1 stairway (even if only temporary) when the constructed building height reaches 50 feet or 4 stories. The next section states that the means of egress shall be "maintained at all times during construction."

The proposed locking of the doors leading to the stairwells is not meant to be just during construction. The consultant is specifying the hardware that will be used long-term, and the owner wants the doors leading to the stairs to be locked when the tenants occupy the building. If delayed egress locks are used, with remote notification to the security station and cameras in the stairs, this will maintain security and life safety. I wouldn't want to be in a 100+ story building with no way out.

 

[mtlogcabin]

Has the owner considered locking the stairwell doors from the stair side? Some one enters the stair at anytime but does not have access to the other floors. You have to go all the way down to get out of the stairs.

Allows egress at all times and security in each floor

 

[cda]

I guess one question is why??

Any insurance company involved ??

Media?? Live at five ?

As someone stated find alternative to allow free egress and accomplish goal of owner

Maybe break out the locked exit door fire death history file, and show the owner

 

[fatboy]

I'm with mtlogcabin.......you can secure a building, and still have egress. My building does it a 5:00 every day.

 

[JBI]

Maybe find a short piece on the Triangle Shirtwaist disaster (there's a good bit about it in 'Fire in America'), that one fire led to multiple code requirements regarding egress from occupied high rise buildings. But, you can't fix stupid.

 

[LGreene]

Has the owner considered locking the stairwell doors from the stair side? Some one enters the stair at anytime but does not have access to the other floors. You have to go all the way down to get out of the stairs.Allows egress at all times and security in each floor

They actually want to lock them from both sides. The codes allow the doors to be locked on the stairwell side as long as they are fail safe locks which can be released via the fire alarm or a switch at the fire command center depending on the code.

 

[LGreene]

I guess one question is why??Any insurance company involved ??

Media?? Live at five ?

As someone stated find alternative to allow free egress and accomplish goal of owner

Maybe break out the locked exit door fire death history file, and show the owner

As hardware consultants we are constantly asked to specify hardware that is not code compliant. In the US, I can point to the codes and say, "I can't do that and here's why." Plus there are AHJs to back me up. In countries where there are no codes, or codes aren't enforced, and security concerns are high, our consultants can say no, and the building owner will find someone else to do it.

 

[mark handler]

Lori

Which country?

 

[LGreene]

Lori Which country?

It's a new high rise in Korea.

 

[mark handler]

Korea does have it's own Building Code. I do do some work there but the projects were based on the IBC and were not High Rise.