Life Saving Facts About Emergency Exit Routes For Your Office

What is an exit route? An exit route is a continuous and unobstructed parth of exit travel from any point within a workplace to a place of safety. An exit route consists of three parts: Exit Access - portion of a route that leads to an exit. Exit - portion of a route that is generally separated from other areas to provide a protected way of travel to the exit discharge.
Exit discharge - part of the route that leads directly outside or to a street, walkway, refuge area, public way, or open space with access to the outside. How many routes must a workplace have? Normally, a workplace must have at least two exit routes to permit prompt evacuation of employees and other building occupants during an emergency. More than two exits are required, however, if the number of employees, size of the building, or arrangement of the workplace will not allow employees to evacuate safely. Exit routes must be located as far away as practical from each other case one is blocked by fire or smoke.
Exception: If the number of employees, the size of the building, its occupancy, or the arrangements of the workplace allows all employees to evacuate safely during an emergency, one exit route is permitted. What are some other design and construction requirements for these routes? Exit routes must be permanent parts of the workplace. They must lead directly outside or to a street, walkway, refuge area, public way, or open space with access to the outside. Areas must be large enough to accommodate the building occupants likely to use the route. Exit stairs that continue beyond the level on which the exit discharge is located must be interrupted at that level by doors, partitions, or other effective means that clearly indicate the direction of travel to the exit discharge. Route doors must be unlocked from the inside.
They must be free of devices or alarms that could restrict use of the route if the device or alarm fails. Side-hinged exit doors must be used to connect rooms to the routes. These doors must swing out in the direction of travel if the room is to be occupied by more than 50 people or if the room is a high-hazard area. These routes must support the maximum permitted occupant load for each floor served, and the capacity of an exit route many not decrease in the direction of exit route travel to the exit discharge. Ceilings of exit routes must be at least 7 feet, 6 inches high. An exit access must be at least 28 inches 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. Objects that project into the exit must not reduce its width.
Outdoor routes are permitted but must meet the minimum height and width requirements for indoor routes and must -have guardrails to protect unenclosed sides if a fall hazard exits; -be covered if snow or ice is likely to accumulate, unless the employer can demonstrate accumulations will be removed before a slipping hazard exists; -be reasonably straight and have smooth, solid, substantially level walkways ; and -not have a dead-end longer than 20 feet. What are the requirements for exits?
They must be separated by fire resistant materials - that is, one-hour fire-resistance rating if the exit connects three or fewer stories and two-hour fire-resistance rating if the exit connects more than three floors. Exits are permitted to have only those openings necessary to allow access to the exit from occupied areas of the workplace or to the exit discharge. Openings must be protected by a self-closing, approved fire door that remains closed or automatically closes in an emergency. What are the maintenance, safeguarding, and operational features for these routes? OSHA standards require employers to do the following: Keep routes free of explosive or highly flammable furnishings and other decorations.
Arrange routes so employees will not have to travel toward a high-hazard area unless the path of travel is effectively shielded from the high-hazard area. Ensure that these routes are unobstructed such as by materials, equipment, locked doors, or dead-end corridors.
Ensure that safeguards designed to protect employees during an emergency remain in good working order. Provide lighting for the routes adequate for employees with normal vision. Keep doors free of decorations or signs that obscure the visibility of exit route doors. Post signs along the exit access indicating the direction of travel to the nearest exit if that direction is not immediately apparent.
Also, the line-of-sight to an exit sign must be clearly visible at all times. Mark doors or passages along a route hat could be mistaken for an exit "Not an Exit" or with a sign identifying its use (such as "Closet"). Install "EXIT" signs in plainly legible letters. Renew fire-retardant paints or solutions often enough to maintain their fire-retardant properties. Maintain routes during construction, repairs or alternations. Provide an emergency alarm system to alert employees, unless employees can promptly see or smell a fire or other hazard in time to provide adequate warning to them.

Peter Altuch,

President HR Training University