Requirements for panic bars on doors
Hey y'all, I need some help with figuring out if I need to get some doors changed around at my facility. Some of our exit doors have panic bars. Some of them have door handles instead, for example at our stairwells.
I have a manufacturing area that is NOT rated as Class II Div II except in two small rooms, but we do work with combustible dusts, bulk chemicals, and machinery obviously. It's a mixing building where we combine rubber, carbon black, etc. to make the base material for tires.
The occupancy of this building is very low. There's generally far fewer than 50 people in it at any given time. I think it's 50 or more people in a building that requires panic bars on exit doors? OR if it's a high hazard area.
Are manufacturing facilities in general classified as a 'high hazard' area? Or is that something for our Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) to decide and tell me?
Just looking for some clarification!
Comments (7)
At the end of the day, you're right, it's the AHJ that will tell you what is "required" based on which set of codes they enforce.
That said, not all AHJs are experts in all situations, so you kind of have to take what they say with a grain of salt. For example, I'm a New York State Code Enforcement Official, and on paper am fully qualified to be a city AHJ...but I'm not. I was AHJ for a hospital campus.
Anyway, your question is a good one. It sounds like you've read either the International Building Code or NFPA 101. High Hazard Occupancies are H-1, H-2, H-3, H-4, or H-5. Based on your description above, it sounds likely to me that you're one of these Group H occupancies. You'll have to look at Section 307 of the IBC to determine which. Feel free to shoot me a message if you want to go through it together.
Stupid question: what is a panic bar?
Also take into consideration, if the exit door is also a fire rated door then you will have to change the entire assembly and not just the door.
I worked Fire Prevention code enforcement and investigations in a with a Hospital as well. Make a friendly phone call to your local Fire Inspector of Code Enforcement officer. They are very helpful most of the time when someone isn't trying to skirt around a code.
If it’s an identified emergency, exit door, you need a panic bar. The whole idea of an emergency exit door is the facility. Large numbers of people aggressing through that door. If having to manipulate a door handle and the panic chances of it not being done correctly because pile up at the door.