Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
Exit provisions, including doors, corridors, stairways,
and other exit-ways, locks, and other applicable items must conform to the
requirements of NFPA 101 concerning means of egress and of this section in
order to ensure that residents can be rapidly and easily evacuated from the
building at all times, or from one part of the building to a safe area of
refuge in another part of the building. Exit provisions are as follows:
(1) Bedroom space arrangement and doors and
corridors must be designed for evacuation of bedfast residents by means of
rolling the bed to a safe place in the building or to the outside.
(2) Public assembly, common living rooms,
dining rooms, and other rooms with a capacity of 50 or more persons or greater
than 1,000 square feet must have two means of exit remote from each other.
Out-swinging doors with panic hardware must be provided for these
exits.
(3) Exit doors and ways of
egress must be maintained clear and free for use at all times, except as
permitted by NPFA 101. Furnishings, equipment, carts, and other obstacles must
not be left to block egress at any time.
(4) Steps in interior ways of egress are
prohibited. If changes of elevation are necessary within ways of egress,
approved ramps with maximum slope of one unit of rise to 12 units of run must
be used.
(5) Doors in means of
egress must be as follows:
(A) Locking
hardware or devices which are capable of preventing or inhibiting immediate
egress must not be used in any room or area that can be occupied.
(B) A latch or other fastening device on an
exit door must be provided with a knob, handle, panic bar, or similar releasing
device. The method of operation must be obvious in the dark, without use of a
key, and operable by a well known one-action operation that will easily operate
with normal pressure applied to the door or to the device toward the exterior.
Locking hardware which prevents unauthorized entry from the outside is
permissible. Self-closing devices and permanently mounted hold-open devices to
expedite emergency egress and prevent accidental lock-out must be provided for
exterior exit doors.
(C) No screen
or storm door may swing against the direction of exit travel where main doors
are required to swing out.
(D) To
aid in control of wandering residents, buzzers or other sounding devices may be
used to announce the unauthorized use of an exit door. Other methods include
approved emergency exit door locks or fencing with a gate outside of exit doors
which enclose a space large enough to allow the space to be an exterior area of
egress and refuge away from the building.
(E) Inactive leaves of double doors may have
easily accessible and easily operable bolts if the active leaf is 44 inches
wide, where permitted by NFPA 101. Center mullions are prohibited.
(F) Resident baths or toilets having privacy
locks will require that keys or devices for opening the doors are kept readily
available to the staff.
(G) Folding
doors must not be used in exit corridors or exit-ways. Sliding doors, where
permitted by NFPA 101, may be used as secondary doors from residents' bedrooms
to grade or to a balcony, or in certain other areas, where permitted by NFPA
101. Corridor doors to rooms must swing into the room or be recessed so as not
to extend into the corridor when open; however, doors ordinarily kept closed
may be excepted.
(6)
Horizontal exits, if provided, must be according to NFPA 101.
(7) Areas outside of exterior exit doors must
be as follows:
(A) Provision must be made to
accommodate and facilitate continuation of emergency egress away from a
building for a reasonable distance beyond the outside exit door, especially for
movement of non-ambulatory residents in wheelchairs and beds. Any condition
which may retard or halt free movement and progress outside the exit doors will
not be allowed. Ramps must be used outside the exit doors in lieu of steps
whenever possible.
(B) The landing
outside of each exit door must be essentially the same elevation as the
interior floor and level for a distance equal to the door width plus at least
four feet. Generally, the difference in floor elevation at an exterior door
must not be over 1/2 inch with the outside slope not to exceed 1/4 inch per
foot sloping away from the door for drainage on the exterior. In locations
north of the +20 Fahrenheit Isothermal Line as defined in the ASHRAE Handbook
of Fundamentals, the landing outside of all exit doors must be protected from
ice build-up which would prohibit the door from opening or would be a slip
hazard.
(C) Emergency egress
lighting immediately outside of exit doors is required as a part of the
building emergency lighting system. Photocell devices may be used to turn
lights off during daylight hours.
(8) The requirements of an emergency lighting
system must be in accordance with §554.341 of this division (relating to
Electrical Requirements).
