Mark Kuhn’s latest post addresses an egress situation that is not uncommon in retail – especially at this time of year…but this example is a little extreme!

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If you’re anything like me, you find yourself shopping in some unique shops at this time of year.  I know that you’re a lot like me because these “Christmas shops” are very CROWDED!

Naturally when I find myself in places like this, I immediately check out all the egress paths. I must admit that when I find these great illustrations of code violations, I am filled with mixed feelings. It starts with excitement because I’ve found something to write about and quickly moves to frustration because people are ignorant to the violations and that they are not being enforced.

This is a very common violation seen on entry doors in these types of shops. I’m going to point out a couple of problems with this opening.

1) The One-Motion Rule:  The I-Codes tell us that any door required for egress shall not require more than one releasing motion in a singular linear or rotational direction to unlatch ALL latching and locking devices.  There is a latchset and a separate deadbolt on this door, requiring two releasing motions for egress.

2) The inactive leaf was secured with manual flush bolts. This can be done in certain situations and in certain occupancies with specific occupant loads…this building met none of those requirements.

But this was just the entry door. So I decided as we shopped, that I would check out all of the other exit doors…BTW, this store is a very large store with many rooms and spread over a couple of floors. In this article you will see EVERY door with an “exit” sign.

This next illustration is actually two stacked “exit” doors, each with several problems, but the most glaring to me is that they are swinging in the wrong direction. The I-Codes tell us that doors must swing in the direction of egress when serving a room or area with a calculated occupant load of 50 people or more.  The occupant load of this store was well over that. But like I said, there other problems like ADA compliance, two motions for egress, and it sure looks like someone is going to fill-up the wire with bows, which would hide the door altogether.  The second photo below is the next door in the means of egress.

But wait there’s more!!!! (you need to keep the egress path clear)

And I saved the best (or worst) for last! …WOW!!!

The point of a post like this is not to pick on a certain shop, but rather to make everyone aware and knowledgeable of these types of problems. Like I said, this place is not unique. I’m sure that if all of you paid as much attention to these things as I do, we could fill Lori’s inbox with hundreds of similar illustrations.

Before you ask…I did not talk to anyone at the store.  I thought about it, but when I saw how super-busy they were and that I didn’t know anyone who worked there, and how it would come across if someone with no authority (other than their knowledge of egress code) talked to them about the problems, I decided against it.

WWYD?

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