Exploring the NFPA’s Requirements Pertaining to Emergency Exit Doors

NFPA emergency exit door requirements can be found in the section of NFPA 101 (otherwise known as the Life Safety Code) that covers means of egress. Means of egress is made up of three components:

1. Exit access
2. Exit
3. Exit discharge

For the purposes of this article, we’ll only really need to dive into the second part, since exit doors are a type of exit.

Intended to allow people to evacuate the building as quickly and safely as possible, emergency exit doors exist for the safety of building occupants. In order to ensure that doors are actually capable of serving this purpose, however, they are subject to various NFPA emergency exit door requirements.

According to NFPA emergency exit door requirements, doors need to be built using fire-resistant materials to help stop the spread of smoke and flames in a building.

Doors are given different ratings based on how many floors they connect:

• A 1-hour fire-resistance rating is given to doors connected <3 floors
• A 2-hour fire-resistance rating is given to doors connecting >3 floors

In addition to being fire-resistant, doors must check all of the following boxes:

• Be professionally installed
• Be readily accessible
• Discharge to the outdoors or an equally safe open space

NFPA emergency exit door requirements state that exit doors should be at least 32 in wide at all points, so as to accommodate for wheelchairs. However, in rooms that are less than 70 sq ft and where use of wheelchairs is prohibited, exit doors may be only 28 in wide.

NFPA requires that the maximum amount of force needed to open an exit door is 15 lbf (pound-force) and that doors are able to be opened from the outside.

Additionally, doors with locks or latches cannot require any tool—including a key—or special knowledge to open from the inside. Luckily, many exit doors take locks and handles completely out of the picture and opt for panic hardware (also called push/panic/crash bars or exit devices) instead, which allow occupants to easily push doors open.

Doors are required to swing in the direction of the exit in rooms with occupant loads over 50 people, exit enclosures, and high-hazard areas. However, doors may not cover over half of the required width of the exit discharge while they swing.

To ensure that doors are easily accessible and visible, paths of egress cannot include highly obstructed areas, such as the following:

• Bathrooms
• Bedrooms
• Closets
• Kitchens
• Storage rooms
• Workrooms

Though there are some variations of the maximum travel distance allowed to find an exit in different places, in general the rule is as follows:

Depending on your building’s maximum number of occupants, it may be subject to additional requirements, such as limitations on the number of dead-end corridors allowed in the building, since they could be mistaken as paths of egress.

From any area in a building—including balconies and mezzanines—there must be at least 2 separate exits available to occupants. However, this number increases with the maximum occupant load of a building.

First find the minimum occupant load by determining what kind of activities the space is used for. Then, factor in the net floor area served by the means of egress. If it is likely that the space will be used by more people than are accounted for in the minimum occupant value, use the larger of the two numbers to determine how many exits are needed. So, for instance, if you calculate the minimum occupant load to be 400 people, but expect the space will actually be used for groups around 600 people large, you will opt to have the minimum number of exits for spaces accommodating 500–1000 people, rather than the number of exits for spaces holding <500 people.

Exit doors with delayed-egress locks must also come with emergency lighting.

NFPA emergency exit door requirements mandate that exit doors have signs installed above them, marking them as exits. These signs need to be visible from any direction of the exit access and lit by a reliable source. Additionally, any door that is not an exit but could be mistaken as one needs to be labeled with a “NO EXIT” sign. 

As stated in the Life Safety Code, annual inspections and tests are part of NFPA emergency exit door requirements. Note that doors can go more than 12 months without being inspected or tested if they are under a written performance-based program.

After conducting a visual inspection on both sides of the doors, inspectors will check for the following:

• Accessibility requirements are met
• Doors are easily able to be fully opened
• Doors close freely
• Doors do not encroach more than is permitted on the path of egress when opened
• Doors have been installed correctly
• Doors utilizing special locking mechanisms function properly 
• Emergency lighting systems are in working order
• Force required to open doors does not exceed 15 lbf
• Hardware is present and intact
• Latching and locking devices are compliant with requirements
• Powered doors are operating correctly
• Security devices installed on doors do not impede egress
• Signage for doors is legible and properly illuminated
• The floor on either side of the doors is clear and unobstructed

Tests must be conducted by qualified individuals.

Though NFPA emergency exit door requirements only dictate an inspector be brought in once a year, you should conduct regular inspections of your own to spot any repairs or replacements needed. If you do find any issues during your own inspections, remedy them as quickly as possible. Be sure to clean doors regularly to keep dust and debris from accumulating, particularly around panic hardware and door frames.

Given that exit doors play a key role in ensuring that occupants are able to safely evacuate from a building when necessary, it is crucial that you follow the NFPA emergency exit door requirements. Not only is compliance a way to protect lives, it helps you avoid the harsh penalties—such as fines and forced closure—noncompliance will bring about.

Two key players that will help make sure your building starts off and remains compliant are building inspectors and your local fire marshal. While building inspectors make sure NFPA emergency exit door requirements are being met during a building’s construction, fire marshals are the ones conducting annual inspections.

The best way to guarantee that you abide by NFPA emergency exit door requirements year-round is by storing data collected from each inspection of every door in your building on one platform. At InspectNTrack, we’ve built a software that works just as hard as you do to ensure your building is NFPA 101-compliant. Set up a recurring inspection schedule once and you’ll never have to worry about missing an inspection again! Our software even automatically plots out the most efficient route for you to follow during inspections, making sure you hit every emergency door in the smallest amount of time possible.

InspectNTrack's program is ready to help you inspect every aspect of your emergency exit doors, including exit signs and emergency lighting systems. Request a free demo and get started today!