Exit provisions, including doors, corridors, stairways, other
exit-ways, locks, and other applicable items must conform to the requirements
of NFPA 101 concerning means of egress and to this section to ensure
that residents can be rapidly and easily evacuated from the building
at all times, or from one part of the building to a safe area of refuge
in another part of the building. Exit provisions are as follows:
(1) Bedroom space arrangement and doors and corridors
must be designed for evacuation of bedfast residents by means of rolling
the bed to a safe place in the building or to the outside.
(2) Public assembly rooms, common living rooms, dining
rooms, and other rooms with a capacity of 50 or more persons or greater
than 1,000 square feet in area must have two means of egress remote
from each other. Out-swinging doors with panic hardware must be provided
for these egress doors.
(3) Exit doors and ways of egress must be maintained
clear and free for use at all times, except as permitted by NFPA 101.
Furnishings, equipment, carts, and other obstacles must not be left
to block egress at any time, except as permitted by NFPA 101.
(4) Steps in interior ways of egress are prohibited.
If changes of elevation are necessary within ways of egress, approved
ramps with a maximum slope of one unit of rise to 12 units of run
must be provided.
(5) Doors in means of egress must be as follows:
(A) Locking hardware or devices which are capable
of preventing or inhibiting immediate egress must not be used in any
room or area that can be occupied.
(B) A latch or other fastening device on an exit door
must be provided with a knob, handle, panic bar, or similar releasing
device. The method of operation must be obvious in the dark, without
use of a key, and operable by a well-known, one-action operation that
will easily operate with normal pressure applied to the door or to
the device toward the exterior. Locking hardware which prevents unauthorized
entry from the outside is permissible. Self-closing devices and permanently
mounted hold-open devices to expedite emergency egress and prevent
accidental lock-out must be provided for exterior exit doors.
(C) No screen or storm door may swing against the direction
of exit travel when main doors are required to swing out.
(D) To aid in control of wandering residents, buzzers
or other sounding devices may be used to announce the unauthorized
use of an exit door. Other methods include approved emergency exit
door locks or fencing with a gate outside of exit doors which enclose
a space large enough to allow the space to be an exterior area of
egress and refuge away from the building.
(E) Inactive leaves of double doors may have easily
accessible and easily operable bolts if the active leaf is 44 inches
wide, where permitted by NFPA 101. Center mullions are prohibited.
(F) Resident baths or toilets having privacy locks
will require that keys or devices for opening the doors are kept readily
available to the staff.
(G) Folding doors must not be used in exit corridors
or other means of egress. Sliding doors, when permitted by NFPA 101,
may be used as secondary doors from residents' bedrooms to grade or
to a balcony, or in certain other areas, when permitted by NFPA 101.
Corridor doors to rooms must swing into the room or be recessed so
as not to extend into the corridor when open; however, doors ordinarily
kept closed may be excepted.
(6) Horizontal exits, if provided, must be according
to NFPA 101.
(7) Areas outside of exterior exit or discharge doors
must be as follows:
(A) Provision must be made to facilitate continuation
of emergency egress away from a building for a reasonable distance
beyond the outside exit door, especially for movement of non-ambulatory
residents in wheelchairs and beds. Any condition which may retard
or halt free movement and progress outside the exit doors will not
be allowed. Ramps must be used outside the exit doors in lieu of steps
whenever possible.
(B) The landing outside of each exit door must be essentially
the same elevation as the interior floor and level for a distance
equal to the door width plus at least four feet. Generally, the difference
in floor elevation at an exterior door must not be over 1/2 inch with
the outside slope not to exceed 1/4 inch per foot sloping away from
the door for drainage on the exterior. In locations north of the
+20 Fahrenheit Isothermal Line as defined in the ASHRAE Handbook of
Fundamentals, the landing outside of all exit doors must be protected
from ice build-up which would prohibit the door from opening or would
be a slip hazard.
(C) Emergency egress lighting immediately outside of
exit doors is required as a part of the building emergency lighting
system. Photocell devices may be used to turn lights off during daylight
hours.
(8) The requirements of an emergency lighting system
must be in accordance with §19.361 of this division (relating
to Electrical Requirements for New Facilities).
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| Source Note: The provisions of this §554.355 adopted to be effective March 22, 2018, 43 TexReg 1646; transferred effective January 15, 2021, as published in the Texas Register December 11, 2020, 45 TexReg 8871 |
