1008.1.8.6 Delayed egress locks. Approved, listed, delayed egress locks shall be permitted to be installed on doors serving any occupancy except Group A, E and H occupancies in buildings that are equipped throughout with an automatic sprinkler system in accordance with Section 903.3.1.1 or an approved automatic smoke or heat detection system installed in accordance with Section 907…

As in the paragraph above, there are numerous locations in the codes where buildings are required to be “equipped throughout” or “protected throughout” with a sprinkler system or smoke/heat detection system.  But what does “equipped/protected throughout” really mean?  There are exceptions which allow sprinklers to be omitted, but if sprinklers are omitted in a certain area, is the building still considered to be equipped/protected throughout?

Well, sprinklers aren’t my thing, so I went in search of an answer and I found an extremely informative article by Lovett Consultants.  (Click on the link for “Sprinklers Throughout”.)  The specific requirements vary by code, but the short answer is that if a code allows sprinklers to be omitted in certain areas, the building can still be considered equipped/protected throughout.

Happy reading!

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