Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) Automatic
Sprinkler System: In buildings greater than two stories in height above grade
or having an occupant load greater than 20 persons, excluding staff, an
automatic sprinkler system shall be installed throughout the work area. The
sprinkler riser shall be sized to serve the entire building, even if the system
currently being installed serves only a portion of the building.
(Fire)
(b) Exits: Two exits shall
be required for stories with less than 500 occupants. Three exits shall be
required for stories with 501 to 1,000 occupants. Four exits shall be required
for stories with more than 1,000 occupants. Two means of egress are also
required from all mezzanines with an occupant load greater than 50 or with exit
travel distance greater than 75 feet.
1. A
single exit shall not be permitted.
2. Existing fire escapes shall be accepted as
providing one of the required means of egress unless judged to be dangerous for
use under emergency exiting conditions. For use of fire escapes, access shall
be through a door except when serving an occupant load of 10 or fewer. All
occupants shall have unobstructed access to fire escapes without having to pass
through a room subject to locking.
i. When
more than one exit is required and there is not sufficient space for an
exterior stair within the lot line, a new fire escape shall be accepted as
providing one of the required means of egress. Newly-installed fire escapes
shall comply with FTO-3.
ii.
Ladders shall be prohibited on fire escapes used as a required means of
egress.
iii. Window access to fire
escapes shall be permitted from individual rooms.
3. Existing slidescapes or safety chutes
shall be permitted. (Plan review--Building, Fire.
Inspection--Building)
(c)
Emergency Egress Windows: When the work being performed creates a bedroom below
the fourth floor, at least one sleeping room window or exterior door shall:
1. Be operable;
2. Have a sill height of not more than 44
inches; and
3. Have a width of at
least 20 inches, a height of at least 24 inches, and a minimum total area of
5.7 square feet measured from head to sill and side to side.
4. Windows are not required to meet these
requirements in buildings where the sleeping room is provided with a door to a
corridor having access to two remote exits or in buildings equipped throughout
with an automatic sprinkler system.
(d) Egress Doorways: A minimum of two egress
doorways shall be required for all rooms and spaces with an occupant load
greater than 50 or in which travel distance exceeds 75 feet. All egress doors
serving an occupant load greater than 50 shall swing in the direction of exit
travel.
1. Exception: Storage rooms with a
maximum occupant load of 10 shall not be required to have two egress
doorways.
2. All dwelling unit,
guest room or rooming unit corridor doors shall be at least 1 3/8 inch solid
core wood or approved equal with approved door closers and shall not have any
glass panels, other than approved wire glass in metal frames. Corridor doors
shall not be constructed of hollow core wood, shall not contain louvers and
shall not be of panel construction. Doors shall fit both plumb and level in
frames, and be reasonably tight fitting. All replacement doors shall be 1 3/4
inch solid core wood or approved equal, unless existing frame will accommodate
only a 1 3/8 inch door. (Note: Existing doors meeting HUD Guidelines or BOCA
Existing Structures Code (1984) for a rating of 15 minutes or better shall be
accepted.)
3. In buildings with an
automatic sprinkler system, doors are required only to provide a smoke barrier,
to be free of louvers, to fit plumb and level and to be reasonably tight
fitting.
4. All doors opening onto
a passageway at grade or onto an exit stair shall be self-closing or automatic
closing by listed closing devices.
i.
Exception: Group homes with a maximum of 15 occupants and an approved automatic
fire detection system shall not be required to have self-closing doors. (Plan
review--Building, Fire. Inspection--Building)
(e) Capacity of Means of Egress: The capacity
of the means of egress in each work area shall be determined in accordance with
5:23-6.11(b).
(Plan review--Building, Fire. Inspection--Building)
(f) Dead End Corridors: Existing dead end
corridors shall not exceed 35 feet in length. Exceptions are as follows:
1. Dead end corridors may be up to 50 feet in
length in a building with an automatic alarm system installed in conformance
with the building code in effect at the time of its installation.
2. Dead end corridors may be up to 70 feet in
length in a building with an automatic sprinkler system installed in
conformance with the building code in effect at the time of its installation.
(Plan review--Building, Fire. Inspection--Building)
(g) Means of Egress Lighting: Artificial
lighting with an intensity of not less than one foot candle at floor level
shall be required during all times that the conditions of occupancy of the
building require that the exits be available. Lighting shall also be required
to illuminate the exit discharge. In all buildings, rooms or spaces required to
have more than one exit or exit access, means of egress lighting shall be
connected to an emergency electrical system conforming to NFPA 70 (NEC) except
that continued illumination shall be required to be provided for not less than
one hour in the case of primary power loss. (Plan review--Building, Fire,
Electric. Inspection--Building)
(h)
Illuminated Exit Signs: Illuminated exit signs shall be provided for all
required means of egress in all buildings, rooms or spaces required to have
more than one exit or exit access. Exit signs shall be visible from the exit
access and supplemented by directional signs when necessary. (Exception:
Approved main exterior doors that are clearly identified as exits are not
required to have exit signs.) Exit signs shall meet the criteria contained in
(h)1 and 2 below:
1. Red or green letters at
least six inches high; minimum width of each stroke 3/4 inch on a white
background or in other approved distinguishable colors. Arrows, if provided,
shall be such that the direction cannot readily be changed. The word "Exit"
shall be clearly discernible when the sign is not energized.
2. Exit signs shall be illuminated at all
times when the building is occupied by a source providing at least five foot
candles at the illuminated surface or shall be approved self-luminous signs
which provide evenly illuminated letters with a minimum luminance of 0.06 foot
lamberts. Exit signs shall be connected to an emergency electrical system
conforming to NFPA 70 (NEC) except that continued illumination shall be
required to be provided for not less than one hour in the case of primary power
loss. No emergency power shall be required for approved self-luminous
signs.
3. Exceptions: Illuminated
exit signs shall not be required for buildings with an occupant load, excluding
staff, of 20 or less or when the second means of egress is a fire escape that
is accessed directly from the individual sleeping room. (Plan review--Building,
Fire. Inspection--Building)
(i) Handrails: Every required exit stairway
having three or more risers and not provided with handrails or in which the
existing handrails are in danger of collapsing when used under emergency
exiting conditions, shall be provided with handrails for the full length of the
run of steps on at least one side. All exit stairways more than 66 inches wide
shall have handrails on both sides unless the full width of the stairway is not
needed to accommodate the design occupancy. (Plan review--Building, Fire.
Inspection--Building)
(j) Guards:
Every open portion of a stair, landing or balcony which is more than 30 inches
above the floor or grade below and is not provided with guards or those in
which the existing guards are in danger of collapsing when used under emergency
exiting conditions, shall be provided with guards. (Plan review--Building,
Fire. Inspection--Building)
(k)
Vertical Opening Protection: Vertical opening protection for interior stairways
and other vertical openings shall be provided as follows:
1. For vertical openings connecting more than
six floor levels, approved assemblies having a fire resistance rating of not
less than two hours with approved opening protectives shall be
required.
2. For vertical openings
connecting four to six floor levels, approved assemblies having a fire
resistance rating of not less than one hour with approved opening protectives
shall be required.
3. For vertical
openings not exceeding three stories, a minimum one-hour UFC fire barrier shall
be required, with the following exception:
i.
Exception: Vertical opening protection shall not be required for either the top
or bottom of a stairway connecting not more than two floor levels when such
stairway does not serve as a required means of egress and the occupant load
does not exceed 12, excluding staff. (Plan review--Building, Fire.
Inspection--Building)
(l) Equipment Rooms: Boiler/furnace equipment
rooms shall be enclosed by one hour fire-rated wall and ceiling assemblies.
1. Exception: Enclosure shall not be required
for boiler/furnace equipment of low pressure type (operating at pressures of 15
psig or less for steam equipment or 160 psig or less for hot water equipment)
when installed in accordance with manufacturer's recommendations or for
boiler/furnace equipment of residential, single-family type (200,000 BTU per
hour input rating or less.)
2.
Exception: Enclosure shall not be required for boiler/furnace equipment rooms
equipped with a limited area sprinkler system in accordance with Section
903.3.8 of the building subcode.
3.
For group homes and supervised transitional living homes heated with
oil-burning equipment, an emergency shutoff switch shall be required at the top
of the stairs leading to the basement for equipment in the basement or outside
of the room for equipment located in other enclosed rooms. (Plan
review--Building, Fire. Inspection--Building)
(m) Structural Elements: Structural elements
which are uncovered during the course of the rehabilitation and which are found
to be unsound or otherwise structurally deficient, shall be reinforced,
supported or replaced in accordance with the applicable structural design
criteria of the building subcode. Where structural elements are sound, there is
no excessive deflection (defined as deflection in excess of the standards set
forth in 5:23-6.7(c)1 ),
and fixed loads are not changing in a way that will increase the stresses on
existing structures beyond that which is permitted by
5:23-6.7(c),
existing structural elements shall be permitted to remain. (Building)
(n) Plumbing Fixtures: Plumbing fixtures
shall be provided as required by Table 7.21.1 of the plumbing subcode. Where
the plumbing subcode allows for the substitution or omission of fixtures, such
substitutions or omissions shall also be permitted under this section.
(Plumbing)
(o) Mechanical
Requirements: All spaces intended for occupancy shall be provided with either
natural or mechanical ventilation.
1. Spaces
intended to be naturally ventilated shall be provided with openable doors,
windows, louvers, or other openings to the outdoors. The minimum openable area
to the outdoors shall be four percent of the floor area being ventilated. Where
rooms without openings to the outdoors are ventilated through an adjoining
room, the unobstructed opening to the adjoining room shall be at least eight
percent of the floor area of the interior room or space, but not less than 25
square feet. The ventilation openings to the outdoors shall be based on the
total floor area being ventilated.
2. Mechanically-ventilated spaces shall
comply with the following:
i. Newly-installed
HVAC systems shall comply with the requirements of the mechanical
subcode.
ii. Existing systems that
are altered or extended shall not reduce the amount of outside air below the
existing rate per person or the rate included in the mechanical subcode,
whichever is lower. As a minimum, mechanically-ventilated spaces shall be
provided with five CFM per person of outdoor air and 15 CFM of ventilation air
per person.
3. All
newly-introduced devices, equipment or operations that produce airborne
particulates, odors, fumes, sprays, vapors, smoke or gases in such quantities
to be irritating or injurious to health shall be provided with local exhaust.
(Building)
(p) Interior
finishes shall comply with
5:23-6.11(c).
(Plan review--Building, Fire. Inspection--Building)
(q) Specific Occupancy Areas: Specific
occupancy areas within the work area, as listed in
5:23-6.30(h),
shall comply with the requirements established in that section for separation
and/or protection. (Building)
