Safety Tidbit 2.34 – Exit Routes

Safety Tidbit 2.34 – Exit Routes

Reference: OSHA Means of Egress Standard 1910.36

Recently my visits have been at some pretty small locations. One was in a leased garage space in an industrial complex.  The owner opened the large overhead door to enter as well as let us in. He had to remove the two, panel trucks that were inside so we could meet. Once the trucks were out of the way, he promptly hit the button and shut the overhead door, as he said: “to keep the heat in.” As the door closed, I thought, now how do I get out of here in an emergency? There were no exit signs, and the two man-doors were either blocked or bolted shut. I thought this is a good topic for this week’s Safety Tidbit – What is an Emergency Exit?

First, an exit route must be a permanent part of the workplace and separated by fire resistant materials (a one-hour fire resistance rating is fine in most of my clients as they are just tiny spaces and one story). Here come the good parts:

The number of exits must be adequate. Typically, we like two doors in case fire blocks the first one. However, one is acceptable where the number of employees, the size of the building, its occupancy, or the arrangement of the workplace is such that all employees would be able to evacuate safely during an emergency. For more information to help you determine the necessary number of exit routes check out NFPA 101.

Each of your exit discharges must be unlocked, able to open without any keys, tools, or specialized knowledge and they must lead directly outside or to a street, walkway, refuge area, public way, or open space with access to the outside. Here’s the kicker the exit door must be a side-hinged door. Therefore, the garage door in our opening example is not adequate. Another important point, the door that connects any high-hazard room to an exit route, must swing out in the direction of exit travel.

An exit route must meet minimum height and width requirements. The ceiling of an exit route must be at least seven feet six inches (2.3 m) high. Any projection from the ceiling must not reach a point less than six feet eight inches (2.0 m) from the floor. An exit access must be at least 28 inches (71.1 cm) wide at all points. Where there is only one exit access leading to an exit or exit discharge, the width of the exit and exit discharge must be at least equal to the width of the exit access. Furthermore, objects that project into the exit route must not reduce the width of the exit route to less than the minimum width requirements for exit routes.

Hope this was helpful and thanks for reading my Safety Tidbits ~ Bryan