To exit or not
I need some help! has anyone ever heard that an exit can't lead me through a garage. We have an EMS base (inherited building) where one of our exits simply must be a man-door in the bay/garage where the ambulances park. This base is setup similar to ranch style home, you enter/exit on one end of the building where the living quarters are and exit/enter through a man-door in the bay of the garage at the other end of the building. There are no other working doors in the building. There are two other doors marked as "Not an Exit" that lead to an interior part of the building.
Can anyone provide legislation, standards or regulations that say an exit can't lead you through a garage.
I get it, it certainly isn't ideal but in this case without cutting in a new door we have no other options where if there is legislation that says this is against the rules then I need a letter to indicate why we are going against it.
Comments (4)
Not sure if you're referring to the of going through the garage as part of your way out or referring to going out the overhead garage door, so I'll address both.
In regard to going through the garage itself (referring to a specific part/area of the building), the only thing I can think of that's applicable here is below, as well as exit routes must be kept free of explosive or highly flammable furnishings or other decorations.
If you're referring to using an overhead door to exit rather than a man door, OSHA does require exit doors to be side-hinged, so an overhead door would not be allowed to be used as one of your "designated" exits factored into the minimum number of required exits based on your occupancy type and load.
"1910.37(a)(2)
Exit routes must be arranged so that employees will not have to travel toward a high hazard area, unless the path of travel is effectively shielded from the high hazard area by suitable partitions or other physical barriers."
I was going to comment that exits must be side hinged but Drew beat me to it. You can’t exit through a garage type door.