Understanding the NFPA Emergency Exit Door Requirements

Of all the safety features in a building, exit doors–AKA the means of egress–are one of the most crucial. Having a path of exit travel that employees or residents know and can rely on is key to getting them out safely in a fire. The point of NFPA requirements for exit or egress doors is to get people away from hazardous conditions (i.e. smoke, fire, and heat) in the shortest time possible. The NFPA provides strict guidelines for what these emergency exit doors look like and how they need to operate. We’ve put together a quick guide for understanding the NFPA emergency exit door requirements.

Exit Door Definitions

Before we dive into the individual requirements set by NFPA 101, let’s make sure we understand the definitions of some of the terms we’ll encounter.

• Means of Egress: A continuous, unobstructed path of travel from any point in a building to a safe public way. A means of egress will have three traits:
  • Exit Access – The travel path from where people are within the building to the beginning of an exit.
  • Exit – The part of the means of egress separated by building structures. In other words, walls, floors, doors, or other structures that provide occupants with a path of travel to the exterior of the building that is reasonably safe from fire. This can include vertical structures as well, like stairwells inside or outside of a building. But elevators are not considered an exit as part of the means of egress as they do not provide a reasonably safe means of exit. After that, other types of exits might include ramps, smoke-proof towers, or escalators.
  • Exit Discharge – The portion of the exit that connects the interior of the building to the exterior.

The NFPA Emergency Exit Door Requirements

Layout

It is a requirement for any area in a building to have at least two means of emergency egress. The exits must not be located next to one another. This reduces risk of these pathways being blocked by fire or anything else that makes it unsafe to travel to the exit.

For new structures, there is something called the “one half diagonal rule”. This means the means of egress must be located no less than half of the diagonal distance away of the area the exit is servicing.

Required Number of Means of Egress

The minimum number of exits from any location in a building is two. First, this includes areas like balconies and mezzanines. Second, the number of means of egress increases as the number of occupants a building can hold increases.

The minimum number in means of egress increases along with building occupancy as follows:

• Buildings with occupant loads of more than 49 but less than 500
• Buildings with occupant loads of more than 500 but less than 1,000
• Buildings with occupant loads in excess of 1,000
• Exceptions will be granted for certain existing buildings, as described by the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ)

The minimum occupant load is determined first, by identifying the occupant factor (which is based on how the space is used rather than its occupancy classification as listed above), then, by factoring in the net floor area your means of egress service. There are additional requirements for buildings that have fixed seating arrangements. If the building owner anticipates the space will be used by a greater number of people than the calculated minimum occupant load, the larger of the two numbers should be considered when determining egress needs.

The exit capacity is in reference to maximum capacity, not an average. This ensures the highest level of safety for a building’s occupants.

Access to an Exit

NFPA emergency exit door requirements state there is a maximum travel distance allowed to find an exit. If there is a fire in the area where occupants are, they are already exposed to smoke, fire, and heat. This access to exit requirements seeks to minimize occupants’ exposure to these and other hazards.

While NFPA emergency exit door requirements differ from place to place, this is the general rule of thumb:

• Buildings that do not have a sprinkler system should have a maximum travel distance to an exit under 150 feet.
• Buildings that do have a sprinkler system should have a maximum travel distance to an exit under 200 feet.

Depending on a building’s number of occupants, there may be additional requirements. This may include limitations on dead-end corridors and common pathways required to access an emergency exit. This decreases the chance for physical harm caused by confusion or chaos induced by emergency exiting.

Obstructions to Means of Egress

Paths to means of egress will never go through places where obstructions are likely and/or unavoidable, or where pathways will be constricted in any other manner.

Means of egress will never go through:

• Kitchens
• Storerooms
• Bathrooms
• Workrooms
• Closets
• Bedrooms

The design of exit access doors that lead to emergency exit doors need to be clearly recognizable. Any sort of obstruction, like drapery, posters, or anything else, is expressly forbidden. These sorts of extraneous objects can impede emergency exiting. Exit access doors can never be obscured. That’s certainly one of the most important NFPA emergency exit door requirements.

Discharge of Emergency Exit Doors

Certainly, exits should always discharge directly to the exterior of the building or an equivalent safe area separated from other areas where danger persists. This is to reduce confusion where occupants need to exit a building in an emergency situation.

Means of Egress Components

Below are the specific physical requirements for a means of egress to meet NFPA 101 standards and codes.

Means of Egress Width

Consider how wide a means of egress needs to be. Specifically, consider the width of a set of fully opened and unobstructed doors. To clarify, doors that are means of egress should be no less than 32 inches wide at all points. This provides enough space for wheelchairs to fit through the door.

Moreover, in rooms of less than 70 square feet, this minimum width might reduce to 28 inches wide. This will only happen in rooms where wheelchair use is not permitted.

In existing structures, the minimum width is 28 inches wide. The maximum door leaf width is 48 inches

Door Swing

A door in a means of egress should allow for easy opening and closing. This could mean either side-hinged or pivot-swinging doors.

Doors must swing in the direction of exit when:

• The means of egress serves a room with an occupant load above 50 people.
• The means of egress is used in an exit enclosure or while serving a high-hazard area.

While swinging, the door should leave available at least half of the required width of a corridor, hallway, or other pathway for use.

NFPA Emergency Exit Door Requirements for Locks

Doors are laid out so they can be opened from the outside when the building is occupied. For instance, a latch or other fastening device that can easily be used in all kinds of light (or lack thereof) is required for doors with a simple releasing device.

Above all, equip doors with panic hardware and fire exit hardware–specifically, hardware that consists of bars extending to at least half the width of the door leaf. For example, this should be no less than 30 inches and no more than 44 inches above the floor. An applied force of 15 pounds should be enough to release the latch.

NFPA Emergency Exit Door Requirements for Marking

All exit paths must have a clearly recognizable exit sign. It will need distinctive colors and to be easily seen or reflective when facing the path of egress. In addition, exit signs must lit by a reliable light source. Subsequently, place these exit signs only on emergency exit doors and doors leading to an exit.

Making Sure Your Emergency Exit Doors are NFPA-Compliant

If that seemed like a lot of information, that’s because it is! A building’s emergency exit doors and means of egress are some of the most important parts of their emergency system. Therefore, when your building has to get its annual fire and life safety inspection, you’ll want a technician that knows what to look for.

That’s why you should only turn to technicians who use Inspect Point’s technology! With Inspect Point, a fire safety technician will never miss a single aspect of your safety inspection. That’s because our software quickly and easily lays out everything the tech needs to know to make your building the safest it can be.