Today’s Quick Question has come up many times, in reference to various types of buildings and spaces:

On a multi-level parking garage with a capacity of 600 cars, do the stair doors and exit discharge doors require panic hardware?

Compared to other code requirements related to doors, those that apply to panic hardware are very clear and have been quite stable over the past 20 years.  Panic hardware is required by the model codes for egress doors equipped with a lock or latch, serving the following locations:

• International Building Code (IBC) and International Fire Code (IFC)
  • Assembly or educational occupancies with a calculated occupant load of 50 people or more
  • High hazard occupancies (any occupant load)
• NFPA 101 – Life Safety Code
  • Assembly, educational, or day care occupancies with a calculated occupant load of 100 people or more
  • Areas of high hazard contents with a calculated occupant load in excess of 5

So the answer to this question, whether we’re talking about a parking garage, apartment building, office building, etc., is based on the use group or occupancy classification.  Is a parking garage an assembly, educational, day care, or high hazard occupancy?  Typically, the answer is no – a parking garage is usually a storage occupancy.

If the building or space in question IS one of the use groups or occupancy classifications that require panic hardware, we would then need to check the calculated occupant load (50+ for the I-Codes, 100+ for the NFPA codes).  But panic hardware would not be required by the model codes for a storage occupancy regardless of the number of occupants.  If the egress plan shows an assembly occupancy exiting through a parking garage (not common), panic hardware might be required for doors serving the assembly occupancy.

With all of that said, there are good reasons to specify/install panic hardware even where it is not required by code.  Panic hardware – especially a rim panic – is durable, reliable, secure, and easy to use, even when your hands are full.  Most panic hardware can easily support access control features, which have become very common in all building types.  So it’s a great choice for a parking garage, but no – it is not required by the model codes for storage occupancies.

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Note that a parking garage might contain an electric room that is required by the National Electrical Code to have panic hardware.  In this case, the panic hardware would be required for doors within 25 feet of the required working area around the electrical equipment, but would not be required for all of the doors between the electrical room and the public way.  Refer to this Decoded article for more info.

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