A39.  Landing valves shall be located in accordance to the following preference:

i.    In fire Fighting lobby (if provided), for the first landing valve.
ii.   In Fire fighting or exit staircase, for the first landing valve.
iii.  In smoke free enclosure or external corridor.
iv.   In the common corridor or area within a protected shaft.

A40.  Every part of the floor area shall be within 30 m coverage of a landing valve.

A41.  An Emergency Command Centre shall be provided in any building which is ‘Highrise’ with 23 m or more in height with the exception of One-and-Two-Family Dwelling and such Emergency Command Center shall have the following:

i.    Fire lift
ii.   Emergency voice communication system
iii.  Engineered smoke control system.

A42.  An Emergency Command Centre shall be of adequate size to house all the terminals and supervisory/control equipment, etc of the building’s fire protection/detection systems and a free working space of at least 8.9 m2 with no dimension lesser than 2440 mm.

A43.  An Emergency Command Centre shall be located adjacent to the fire lift lobby at the designated storey of the building (i.e. the lobby of the building on the first storey or immediately adjacent thereto)

A44.  Doors required to be of the side-hinged or pivoted-swinging type shall swing in the direction of egress travel where serving a room or area with an occupant load of 50 or more. A door shall swing in the direction of egress travel under either of the following conditions:

i.     Where the door is used in an exit enclosure
ii.    Where the door serves a high hazard contents area

A45.  Exit stairs serving High-rise buildings, Midrise buildings, High depth Underground buildings and buildings connecting four or more stories shall be constructed of RCC (Reinforced Concrete) with a minimum of 2 hour fire rating. Exit Stairs serving Lowrise buildings, Lowdepth Underground buildings and buildings connecting Three or less stories shall be protected with 2 hour fire rated construction.

A46.  Spiral Stairs is not allowed as a part of means of egress.

A47.  Interlocking or scissor stairs shall be considered only as a single exit.

A48.  A floor diagram shall be provided in staircase landings on the wall beside the exit door. Floor diagrams shall also be provided beside fire alarm panels, in smoke-free enclosures, in fire fighting lobbies and in individual rooms of hotels and health care occupancies.

A49.  Floor diagrams shall show the actual floor layout, exit stairways locations, corridors, rooms, landing valves, hosereel, fire extinguishers, lift lobbies and other useful information for fire department as well as occupants.

A50.  Every escape staircase serving buildings of 23 m in height or more must be made a smoke proof enclosure. The means of achieving a smoke proof enclosure should be by pressurization.

A51.  A smoke proof enclosure shall be enclosed from the highest point to the lowest point by barriers having 2-hour fire resistance ratings.  

A52.  The exit passageway shall be separated from the remainder of the building by a 2-hour fire resistance rating.

A53.  Staircase ventilation for non-highrise buildings shall be provided with natural, mechanical ventilation or by providing smoke proof enclosures.

A54. For sprinkler protected buildings, not more than 50 percent of the required number of exits, and not more than 50 percent of the required egress capacity, shall discharge through areas on the level of exit discharge.

A55.   The minimum separation distance between two exits or exit access doors in a sprinklered building shall be not less than one-third the length of the maximum overall diagonal dimension of the building or area to be served. This distance shall be half the diagonal for non-sprinklered buildings.

A56.  The clear width of any corridor or passageway serving an occupant load of 50 or more shall be not less than 1200 mm.

A57.  Any non-sprinklered dwelling unit shall be permitted to have a single exit, provided that one of the following criteria is met:

i.    The dwelling unit has an exit door opening directly to the street or yard at ground level.
ii.  The dwelling unit has direct access to an outside stair and serves a maximum of two units, both of which are located on the same floor.
iii. The dwelling unit has direct access to an interior stair that serves only that unit and is separated from all other portions of the building by fire barriers having a minimum 1hour fire resistance rating, with no opening therein.
iv.  Travel distance from the anywhere in the unit shall not exceed 23m to the final discharge.
v.   Total floor area is less than 500 m2

A58.  Any building that is protected throughout by an approved, supervised automatic sprinkler system has four or fewer stories, and has not more than four dwelling units per story shall be permitted to have a single exit, provided that all of the following conditions apply:

i.    The stairway is separated from the rest of the building by barriers having not less than a 1-hour fire resistance rating, with self-closing 1-hour fire door assemblies protecting all openings between the stairway enclosure and the building.
ii.    The stairway does not serve more than one-half story below the level of exit discharge. iii.      All corridors serving as access to exits have a minimum 1-hour fire resistance rating. iv.     There is not more than 35 ft (10.7 m) of travel distance from the entrance door of any dwelling unit to the exit staircase
v.     One-half-hour fire-rated horizontal and vertical separation between dwelling units is provided. vi.     Travel distance from anywhere from the unit to the unit exit door shall not exceed 23m. vi.     Total floor area is less than 500 m2