Compliance News: Re-entry from the Stair Enclosure

By Robert Trotter, CBO, CFM

The stair enclosure in a facility is an essential component of the means of egress. It serves as a primary way of protecting occupants during their egress from the building. Under certain circumstances, health care organizations have the need to secure stair doors from re-entry to the interior of the building. Where this need exists you should consider the applicable re-entry provisions found in the 2000 edition of NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®.

While existing health care occupancies are exempt from the re-entry provisions, Annex A of the Life Safety Code® states, “Doors to the enclosures of interior stair exits should be arranged to open from the stair side at not less than every third floor so that it will be possible to leave the stairway at such floor if fire renders the lower part of the stair unusable during egress or if occupants seek refuge on another floor.”

Excluding the exceptions, new high-rise health care occupancies must comply with the re-entry provisions of the Life Safety Code®. Every door in a stair enclosure serving more than four stories shall allow re-entry from the stair enclosure to the interior of the building, or an automatic release shall be provided to unlock all stair enclosure doors to allow re-entry. Such automatic release shall be actuated with the initiation of the building fire alarm system. Pay close attention to the two exceptions.

The Life Safety Code® defines a high-rise building as “A building greater than 75 ft. in height, where the building height is measured from the lowest level of fire department vehicle access to the floor of the highest occupiable story.”