Emergency Egress from Buildings - Part I: Egress Strategies

Lawrence R. Eichner, P.E.

Course Outline

Buildings are reaching record heights worldwide.  Along with construction challenges, come valid concerns about occupant safety and an associated need for a fundamental re-thinking of emergency egress strategies.  Every design professional should be aware of the available egress strategies that play an essential role in the design of modern life/safety systems in tall buildings.  This course is the first in a two-part series* on the topic of emergency egress from buildings; it presents an overview of both traditional and new egress strategies.  The course materials are based entirely on “Emergency Egress Strategies for Buildings”, by Richard W. Bukowski, NIST Building and Fire Publications.  The course is intended to give engineers and architects a broad understanding of egress strategies, which in turn allows their greater involvement in the overall project development process.

* Part II: Re-thinking Egress Systems, Course M465 is offered separately.

This course requires the completion of a multiple-choice quiz at its conclusion in order to obtain the necessary certification.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will be aware of:

• Current, primary strategies for evacuation;  
• Why simultaneous egress via stairs might be impractical;
• The performance metrics for egress systems;
• The three basic components of a means of egress;
• The shortcomings of stairs as the primary means of egress;
• Why stair design must change to meet modern demographics;
• The egress issues associated with building core arrangements;
• Employing elevators as a strategy for emergency egress of occupants;
• The effects of fire service access elevators on occupant egress;
• Using refuge floors as an egress strategy;
• Active evacuation management strategies; 
• Advances in communication systems to improve egress; and
• Time-based performance goals for egress systems.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for engineers and architects.

Benefit to Attendees

Attendee will understand both traditional and new emergency egress strategies for tall buildings, which will enable their active participation in the project development process. 

Course Introduction

As new buildings get taller and the needs of the occupants change, the effectiveness of traditional emergency egress strategies has come under scrutiny.  The public’s focus on safety issues has led to a fundamental re-evaluation of emergency egress strategies for tall buildings.  This course is the first in a two-part series on the topic of emergency egress from buildings; it presents an overview of both traditional and new egress strategies that improve egress time and safety while meeting the special needs of some occupants. 

Course Content

In this lesson, you are required to download and study the following document:

“Emergency Egress Strategies for Buildings”, by Richard W. Bukowski, NIST Building and Fire Publications [PDF]

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Course Summary

This course is the first in a two-part series on the topic of emergency egress from buildings.  It provides an overview of traditional and new emergency egress strategies in these sections:

• Introduction
• Performance Metrics for Egress
• Components of a Means of Egress
• Stairs
• Core Arrangement
• Occupant Egress Elevators
• Fire Service Access Elevators
• Elevator Egress Strategies
• Refuge Floors
• Active Evacuation Management
• Communication Systems for Egress Management
• Performance Goal for Egress Systems
• Conclusions

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following website:

http://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/fire05/PDF/f05123.pdf - Protected Elevators and the Disabled, Bukowski
Building and Fire Publications - Basis for egress Provisions in U.S. Building Codes, Bukowski
Building and Fire Publications – Design of Occupant Egress Systems for Tall Buildings, Kuligowski

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

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DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

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