Register now or log in to join your professional community.
Hi, Mr. Haidar. The answer to this question is: depends. NFPA101, Life Safety Code, helps us to determine the specification for a specific evacuation route, or mean of egress. Therefore, the following is a brief numbers of aspects to consider:
1.- Occupational load factor: this helps to determine how much people can stay working or living in a particular type of occupancy.
2.- Capacity factors: with this you can determine if the emergency stairs of the building meets with the NFPA101 requirements for a specific occupational load.
3.- Stairs: the measures of the stairs must be according with the calculus of egress capacity.
4.- Fire doors: must be in service all time, in perfect conditions of operation, and shall be inspected and maintained according to the NFPA standards.
5.- Fire resistance rating of doors, enclosures, openings, walls, etc., must be at least1-hour fire rated.
6.-If the building are sprinklered, some of prior considerations can be decreased.
I could continue explaining other considerations based in NFPA101, but I think that the best option is to obtain the standard and sit down to read and read and read.
However, if you need some specific help you could send me the specific problem and I'll help you with great pleasure.
Kind regards
Roberto Kissner
