Emergency Egress from Buildings - Part II: Re-Thinking Egress Systems

Lawrence R. Eichner, P.E.

Course Outline

The increasing height of buildings combined with changing occupant characteristics and growing public concerns about the safety of tall buildings, have caused a re-evaluation of emergency egress systems.  In response, every design professional should understand the essential role that emergency egress plays in the design of modern life/safety systems in tall buildings.  This course is the second in a two-part series* on the topic of emergency egress from buildings; it provides an in-depth description of egress systems and the evolution of governing requirements, identifies international standards, and makes suggestions for changes in model codes to better address the needs of occupants of tall buildings.  The course materials are based entirely on “Emergency Egress from Buildings” by Richard W. Bukowski, NIST Technical Note 1623.  The course is intended to give engineers and architects a broad understanding of egress systems, which in turn allows their participation in the design of life/safety systems with a greater involvement in the overall project development process.

* Part I: Egress Strategies, Course M464 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:

• The history and evolution of means of egress in fires and emergencies;
• The origins and scientific basis for regulatory emergency egress requirements;
• Approaches to emergency egress used in other countries;
• Why emergency egress concepts should be re-evaluated;
• Changes in tall buildings;
• Changes in the physical characteristics and demographics of occupants;
• Why time should be used as the crucial performance metric for egress system design;
• Emergency egress performance criteria based on practical objectives;
• Several progressive design approaches that address the needs of the occupants; and
• Suggestions for changes in model codes.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for engineers and architects.

Benefit to Attendees

Attendee will understand the evolution of emergency egress system requirements and the international regulatory framework, as well as be aware of potential performance criteria and suggestions for new design approaches.  In turn, attendee will be better able to select appropriate egress systems based on specific project details and enable active participation in the project development process. 

Course Introduction

New buildings are reaching record heights; the 160-story, 2,722’ Burj Khalifa in Dubai was completed in 2010, the soon to be completed 1,776’, 104-storey 1 World Trade Center, and Chinese authorities claim that their Sky City building will attain an unprecedented height of 2,749’.  These unique tall buildings along with a risk-averse public focused on allied safety issues have led to a fundamental re-evaluation of emergency egress systems.  This course provides a review of the traditional egress systems and approaches currently found in building regulations internationally. It identifies the origins of these specifications including the extent to which they may be based on scientific data or consensus opinion.  It suggests that traditional design approaches should be re-evaluated to reflect changes both in buildings and in their occupants.  It suggests several progressive design practices and changes to model code language based on reasonable performance metrics.

Course Content

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

“Emergency Egress from Buildings” by Richard W. Bukowski, NIST Technical Note 1623. [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 provides an overview of traditional emergency egress systems, discusses the genesis of current regulatory requirements in the US and other countries, and suggests several design approaches to reflect changes both in buildings and in their occupants.  This course presents these topics in two primary sections:

• History and Current Regulations for Egress System Design
  • Introduction
  • Origins of the 44 inch Exit Stair in the US
  • Exit Capacity
  • Early Thoughts on Elevators as a Means of Egress
  • Early Regulatory Approaches in the US
  • Scientific Studies of Flow Rate
  • Scientific Studies of Exit Width
  • Scientific Studies of Tread Geometry
  • Review of International Code Requirements for Egress Stairs

• New Thinking on Egress From Buildings
  • Buildings Are Taller
  • People Are Bigger and Less Fit
  • New Technologies
  • Refuge Floors
  • Performance Metrics for Egress Systems
  • Rethinking Egress System Design
  • Strawman Egress System Performance Metrics
  • Concluding Remarks

Related Links

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

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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