It’s every businesses’ responsibility to keep their employees and customers safe. While there are many obvious ways to to do this, such as having fire alarms and fire extinguishers, one often overlooked method is posting emergency evacuation maps or evacuation plans. An emergency evacuation map is a map or a diagram showing the rooms, doors, hallways, exits, stairwells, and most importantly, the safest egress route that employees and guests should take in the event an emergency. Evacuation maps serve to protect both employees and customers, but are they required in every business? This blog post will help to explain more about the rules and regulations for evacuation plans within businesses of various sizes.
For commercial businesses, determining if evacuation maps are required depends on what type of occupancy is involved or the occupancy classification. Buildings can be classified into one or more occupancy groups generally based on the intended purposes of the building. In addition to occupancy classification, plans are further determined by the maximum occupancy load. This is the total number of people safely allowed in a room or space within a building, and it’s calculated based on the intended use of that space. Some buildings may include separate occupancies, resulting in different occupant load standards.
All that said, the question remains, which businesses need evacuation plans? Unfortunately, there is no straightforward answer. Evacuation plans are mandatory for certain configurations, but not for others, which is why it’s imperative to know where your facility stands.
Which Buildings and Facilities Require Evacuation Signage?
Whether it’s a shopping mall, a fitness center, or an office building, plans are determined based on the occupancy classification and the maximum occupancy load for those specific businesses. Covered shopping malls, for example, consist of “mixed use occupancy” under the building code. Shopping malls have department stores, movie theaters, restaurants, kiosks, and other goods and services provided by the tenants, so no matter the classification [Assembly (A), Businesses (B), or Mercantile (M)], malls will have to develop an evacuation plan due to the sheer volume of occupants. Just like malls, fitness centers and office buildings must comply with specific evacuation criteria based on their occupancy load. Therefore, any practical distinctions are based on a particular group’s maximum occupant load, not the occupant presence at a single moment in time.
As we mentioned above, shopping malls are considered a mixed use occupancy, since they contain department stores, movie theaters, restaurants, kiosks, and other goods and services under one roof. Since this is the case, there will always need to be an evacuation plan because of its classification under the building codes. In the case of business and mercantile groups such as drug stores, markets, gas stations, the maximum occupancy load has to be 500 or more before evacuation plans are mandatory. Similarly, fitness centers and office buildings have to comply with specific evacuation criteria based on their occupant loads. These distinctions are derived primarily from the fire code regulations set by your jurisdiction.
It’s because of these categorical distinctions that evacuation plans aren’t necessary to most smaller restaurants and businesses. Restaurants that have an occupant load set above 50, including servers, kitchen staff, and guests, would require evacuation maps.
What Do the Different Occupancy Groups Require?
After reviewing the building code and figuring out which occupancy classification you fall under, you also have to cross reference the fire code to determine any applicable threshold questions, such as occupant load perimeters. Assembly Group occupancies are fairly straight forward, since an emergency evacuation plan is the default requirement. These can include theaters, concert halls, nightclubs, restaurants, libraries, gyms, and more. For buildings in Groups B (Business) and M (Mercantile), the maximum occupant load varies depending on that particular building. If the occupancy load is 500 or more persons, then an evacuation map would be required, per the 2021 International Fire Code (IFC), sections 403.3 and 403.8. Group B can include banks, animal hospitals, post offices, law offices, outpatient clinics, etc., while Group M can include department stores, drug stores, markets, and more.
The IFC requires the building containing the various occupancies meet the evacuation plan rules. In other words, it’s generally the responsibility of the building owner, not the tenant, to put in place all necessary emergency egress measures to ensure the swift and safe evacuation of all occupants and guests. While employees and regular patrons may know their way around your facility, evacuation plans should be laid out in a way that they’d be easily understood by even a first time visitor. This means diagraming floor plans to point out primary/secondary egress routes, emergency procedures, and any emergency fixtures that will help get guests and employees to safety. Lastly, even if evacuation maps aren’t necessarily required by regulations, they’re a handy safety element that can only help those in your facility. Safety should always come first, and installing a readily-available evacuation plan onto your wall is a simple way to make sure everyone in your facility avoids danger.
Getting the right emergency signage can be a bit of a task, especially when it comes to understanding the sometimes confusing building codes. Thankfully, signmojo.com is here to help with all of your emergency signage questions. We have a whole host of emergency evacuation plans to choose from, and you can easily customize them to suit your business’s needs. Still not sure where to start? We’ve also evaluated signs for customers and all different types of facilities, so we can easily figure out what yours needs. From there, we can also help determine your occupancy group and what specifics you’ll need to help evacuate occupants safely out of your building.