Are Your Exit Routes OSHA Compliant?

OSHA defines an exit route as “a continuous and unobstructed path of exit travel from any point within a workplace to a place of safety.” An exit route consists of three parts:

• Exit access—the part that leads to an exit
• Exit—the part that is generally separated from other areas to provide a protected way of travel to the exit discharge
• Exit discharge—the part that leads directly outside or to a street, walkway, refuge area, public way, or open space with access to the outside

Normally, at least two exit routes from a workplace are required to permit safe evacuation of employees and any other people in the building during an emergency.

More than two exits are required, however, if the number of employees, size of the building, or arrangement of the workplace would not allow employees and visitors to evacuate safely with only two emergency exits.

In rare cases, one exit route is permitted, but only If the number of employees, the size of the building, its occupancy, or the arrangement of the workplace allows all employees and visitors to evacuate safely during an emergency.

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Basic Requirements

• Exit routes must be located as far away as practical from each other in case one is blocked by fire or smoke.
• Exit routes must be permanent parts of the workplace.
• Exit routes must lead directly outside or to a street, walkway, refuge area, public way, or open space with access to the outside. These exit discharge areas must be large enough to accommodate the building occupants likely to use the exit 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 leading to the exit discharge.
• Exit route doors must be unlocked from the inside. They must be free of devices or alarms that could restrict use of the exit route if the device or alarm fails.
• Side-hinged exit doors must be used to connect rooms to exit routes. These doors must swing out in the direction of exit travel if the room is to be occupied by more than 50 people or if the room is a high-hazard area.
• Exit routes must support the maximum permitted occupant load for each floor served, and the capacity of an exit route may 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.

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Additional Requirements

Exits must also be separated by fire resistant materials.

• 1-hour fire-resistance rating is required if the exit connects three or fewer stories.
• 2-hour fire-resistance rating is required 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.

Outdoor exit routes are permitted but must meet the minimum height and width requirement for indoor exit routes and must:

• Have guardrails to protect unenclosed sides if a fall hazard exists
• 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
• Not have a dead-end longer than 20 feet

Tomorrow, we’ll review maintenance, safeguarding, and operational features for exit routes.

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