NFPA 101: Life Safety Code Module 2: Egress Basics

Means of Egress Overview and Parts

Exit Access: portion of the means of egress that leads to an exit

Exit: exterior exit doors, exit passageways, horizontal exits, enclosed exit stairs/ramps

For stairways, exit includes the stair enclosure, the door to the stair enclosure, the stairs and landings in
the enclosure, the door from stair enclosure to outside/LED, and any exit passageway or doors used to
discharge stairs directly outside

For doors directly connecting street level to stress, exit consists only of the door. Doors of individual
rooms (such as hotel rooms) are not exist unless they directly outside.

Exit Discharge: Portion of means of egress between exit termination and public way

Public Way: street/alley/pathway open to outside, used by public, with width/height >=10 ft

Area of Refuge: areas used temporarily during egress. Must contain a two-way communication system.

Exit access -> Exit -> Area of Refuge (potentially) -> Exit Discharge -> Public Way

A door in hotel room leading to a balcony is exit access. A ladder from the balcony is an exit. The exit
discharge is the bottom of the bottom of the ladder.

Determining Exit Enclosure and Protection

Fire barrier: continuous membrane or membrane with discontinuities created by protected openings
with a specified fire protection rating to limit spread of fire

Must be continuous horizontally, from outside wall to outside wall or from one barrier to another

Must be continuous vertically, through concealed spaces (above ceiling and including interstitial spaces),
or continuous from floor to bottom of interstitial space if space itself has a fire protection rating equal to
or greater than the fire barrier.

Barrier ratings included in code are 1/2 hour, 1 hour, 2 hour, and 3 hour

Wall function (hazardous area wall, corridor wall) and wall fire rating determine the fire rating required
of the opening protective door/window via table in Chapter 8.

Fire protection rated doors: require fire ratings based on table in Chapter 8. Fire doors must be legibly
labeled, with exception of existing steel doors when approved by AHJ.

Fire door or window’s fire protection rating designates the duration of fire test exposure. Table in
chapter 8 defines fire test standards and marking for fire rated glazing assemblies.

Allowances exist for existing fire opening protectives (3/4 instead of 1 hour minimum)
UL Listed Through Penetration Assemblies used to maintained continuity of fire resistant walls to
prevent smoke/flame/heat from migrating around piping. NFPA 90A describes protection required for
HVAC duct openings penetrating fire barriers.

Among the components whose requirements are explained in Chapter 8.3.3 and 8.3.4 are fire protection
rated doors, fire protection rated door vision panels, fire windows, HVAC duct penetrations, pipe and
conduit protection/sealing requirements.

Means of Egress Component Requirements

Exit and Exit Enclosures:

Stairs/Separations:

Stairs must have fire resistance rated separation from the rest of the building depending on stories the
stairwell connect. For 4 or more stories, 2 hour rated separation are needed. This requirement is
reduced to 1 hour rated for existing non-high rises and sprinklered building. For 3 or less, 1 hour rated
separation is needed.

Doors/Openings:

Only opening permitted in exit enclosures are door assemblies connecting to normally occupied
spaces/corridors or to exit discharge. Must be self-closing, like automatic closing fire door assemblies

Vestibules: break between exit enclosure and normally unoccupied space (such as equipment room
connected to stairway exit enclosure. Must be separated by walls/doors meeting requirements in
occupancy chapters, or a smoke partition when occupancy chapter does not regular corridor wall.
Existing mechanical equipment rooms lacking fuel-fired equipment are allowed to open directly onto
exit stair enclosure which contains sprinklers and smoke detection.

Penetrations are permitted for water/steam piping for heating/cooling, electrical or fire alarm system
cricuit wiring conduits, pathways for security/communication systems, sprinkler piping

Use of an exit enclosure for any purpose that could interfere with purpose as exit or area of refuge
(storage, copy machine, vending machines, electrical cables unrelated to life safety) is prohibited

Headroom in means of egress: 7.5 feet from floor to ceiling in flat areas, 6.66… ft from floor to ceiling
projections or from stair to ceiling.

Walking surfaces must be slip resistant and level. Changes in level <=21 inches allowed with ramp/stair

Means of egress, including exit access and discharge, must be kept free of obstructions at all times

New door openings for means of egress must be >= 32in clear width measurement for wheelchairs.
Door width measurements can be used to calculate egress capacity. Minimum clear width definition
diagrams are shown in Annex A, with and without permitted fire exit hardware obstruction. Existing
doors have lower requirements for leaf width measurement.
Door leaves must swing in the direction of egress travel if: occupant load >=50, used in exit enclosure, or
serves high hazard contents area.

For corridor doors, must leave >=50% width of corridor unobstructed when halfway open and take up
<=7 inches in direction parallel to corridor width when fully open.

For exit enclosure doors, must not encroach >=50% required width of stair. Exception for existing
building is if door does not project >=7inches into stair landing width or is self closing.

Fire door assemblies in egress route should be kept in closed position. Must not be secured in open
position at any time.

Door inspections vary whether fire rated (CH8) and not (CH7)

Force required to open means of egress door leaf manually:

For new doors <=15lbf to release latch, 30lbf to start motion, 15lbf to open to minimum width
For existing door, <=50lbf for all actions

Other door assembly types:

Special Sliding Doors: horizontal sliding accordion doors, required to be easy to operate from
either side, open with maximum force, have require fire protection rating, automatic closing by
smoke detection or other means

Security Grilles: horizontal sliding or vertical rolling, as those in shopping malls, if allowed
specifically by the specific occupancy chapter

Non-swinging doors: sliding doors are allowed in detention and correctional facilities, or areas
with <10 person unless specifically prohibited by occupancy chapter

Automatically Activated Power Operated Door: permitted if movement can be manually

Revolving Doors: Detailed in 7.2.1.10, including width of egress path, location, speed of rotation,
collapsibility, force requirements, for both doors part of and not part of the means of egress.

Security Access Turnstiles: Requirements include minimum clear width, loss of power, manual
operation, operation from fire alarm system

Lock/Latch requirements:

Key-Operated Locks: allowed when specific occupancy chapter permits, labeled to “to remain
unlocked when building is occupied,” readily apparent as locked, key immediately available to
occupant inside building

Door hardware electrical lock release: allowed when hardware affixed to door leaf, can be
obviously/readily operated in the direction of egress with one hand, such that operating
hardware interrupts power supply to electric lock and unlocks door in direction of egress, loss of
power unlocks door in direction of egress, and only specific hardware listed can be used
 Stairwell reentry: stair enclosures in 4+ story buildings must either provide reentry from
enclosure to building, have automatic release tied to fire alarm, or provide selected reentry.
Exempt for existing business occupancies, required for all new buildings.

Stairwell selective reentry: some stair enclosure doors, regardless of occupancy, can be locked
on most floors, but must have at least two levels unlocked (one must be the top or next to top
floor, other generally is LED floor). There must be <4 locked floor doors between unlocked floor
door. Useful for buildings with need to keep certain floors locked from stairwell for security.

Simple Latch Release: Must have obvious operation, such as knobs, levers, bars

One Releasing Operation: For residential occupancies, one additional opening operations (such
as latch, dead bolt, security chain) allowed for new door, two additional for existing door. For all
occupancies, one additional opening operation allowed on existing doors for <3 occupants if
operations do not require simultaneous operation.

Delayed Egress Electrical Locking System: Prevent door leaf from being operated for 15-30
seconds in nonemergency or early emergency situations. Can only be used if specifically
permitted by occupancy chapter, and only in buildings with automatic fire detection or sprinkler
system

Sensor Release of Electrical Locking System: locked against access from outside the building,
requiring a magnetic card for authorized entry, but must allow free egress whenever building is
occupied.

Elevator Lobby Exit Access Door Locking: when permitted by occupancy chapter, door
assemblies separating lobby from exit access are permitted to be electrically, provided other
criteria are met in 7.4.1.1.6.1

Panic/Fire Exit Hardware: Fire exit hardware is tested and listed for fire rated door assemblies,
while panic hardware is not. Both are designed for ease of use under conditions of hurried
egress. Provisions in 7.2.1.7 do not require panic hardware but list requirements if specific
occupancy chapter does.

Stairs:

Function for allowing normal occupant movement among building floors, providing emergency egress in
case of fire, and facilitate rescue and fire control by emergency responders. Used in “exit access,” “exit,”
“exit discharge.” 7.2.2.2.1.1 details new and existing stair dimensional requirements. Existing stairs in
existing buildings can comply with old (i.e. worse than current existing) requirements and can be rebuilt
to existing dimensional criteria.

Stairway serving >=2000 person must be 56 inches wide, facilitating two direction flow between first
responders and evacuees. Stairways serving upper floors and <=2000 persons must be 44 inches wide.

Handrails: on stairs/ramps, required on both sides unless otherwise permitted

Guards: on open side of an egress path walking surface, required to protect vertical drop of >=30inches

Requirements in height and intermediate rail distance, as well as measuring criteria, in 7.2.2.4

Enclosed usable space is only allowed under a stair if the enclosed space is separated from exit
enclosure by walls with the same fire rating as the walls of the exit enclosure

No open space in exit enclosure can be used that would interfere with egress

Requirements exist for stairway identification signs. Also require posting information at each floor when
there is 3+ floors for new buildings and 5+ floors for existing buildings. Info may appear on multiple
signs, identifying stair, floor level, location of top/bottom floor termination, direction of exit discharge.
Floor level designation must be tactile (5/8in to 2in high by accessibility code and additional 5in high
indicator by the Life Safety Code)

Horizontal Exits:

Fire rated walls combined with fire rated door assemblies, providing passage from one building area to
another building area, each area an independent fire compartment, rated fire barrier separating them.

Bridges and balconies can serve as horizontal exits.

Horizontal exits typically lack stairs or ramps, are usually at the same level between buildings

Horizontal exits must not provide >50% of floor’s required number of exits and egress capacity.
Detention and healthcare have exceptions for defend-in-place security protection strategy.

Stricter continuity requirements compared to general barriers apply to horizontal exits, 2-hour fire
resistance rated walls must extend from outside wall to outside wall on horizontal plane, and to the
lowest floor in the vertical plane.

Exceptions for vertical continuity when it would interfere with day to day operations must
follow allowed alternatives.

Alternatives 1 includes 2-hour fire rated walls only on the floor with the horizontal exit
and 2-hour fire rated floors on the horizontal exit floor. Stairways must discharge
directly to exterior, NOT to LED

Alternative 2 omits 2-hour fire rated wall on the level below LED if the LED has 2-hour
fire rated floor

When horizontal exit wall intersects with exterior walls <180 degrees apart, 1-hour fire rated
walls must be used for 10 feet on both sides of the intersection point, to prevent fire jumping.
Alternatively, 10 feet of 2-hour fire rated wall may be used on only one side.
Ramps: permitted as part of means of egress, preferred over stairs in some cases (detailed in 7.2.5)

Exit Passageways:

Horizontal passageway protected with fire rated walls similar to stair exit enclosure

Used in large buildings, like shopping malls and factories, to reduce travel distance to exit

Exit passageway discharging from stair enclosure must have at least equal fire resistance rating walls
and opening protective (door) as those required for the exit stair enclosure. Doors between the stair and
passageway are not required if there are no fire windows.

Additional components include Smokeproof Enclosures, Escalators/Moving Walks, fire escape