Generator Enclosure Egress

[millerpj]

At our facility we have two 2 megawatt medium voltage generators installed outside in manufacturer provided enclosures that we can enter and walk around inside. Each enclosure has 3 doors with panic bars and 2 doors in each generator share a common catwalk.

The issue we have is the remaining door in each generator exits to the side of the generator with no catwalk, and the door is ~5' off the ground because the generator is mounted on a fuel tank.

We currently have signage up on the 2 doors with no egress that say "CAUTION NOT AN EXIT" but I am not sure if that is enough. Is there a code requirement for generator enclosures to have a certain number of exits like electrical rooms do? Can anyone point me to any OSHA references that speak to this issue?

I don't know if we need to build a catwalk for those doors, place a chain in front of the doors like they do on loading dock doors, physically bar the doors, etc. to make this compliant and safe.


Thanks in advance everyone.


Paul

 

[ron]

These are not generally treated like an electrical room with the exception of working clearances kept. It is like equipment mounted in inaccessible areas. Sometimes it requires ladders, or temporary staging.

Sometimes generator enclosures don't even have any catwalks and needs ladder access to each door.

 

[Todd0x1]

Is there room outside the doors? There's prefab platform+stair units that cost a couple thousand you could put outside the door. Especially since the door has a panic bar on it, it seems someone could use it without reading the sign either through a momentary loss of focus or during an emergency.

 

[paulengr]

NFPA 101 life safety Code is where you will find emergency egress requirements.

In small “rooms” where the “exit” is less than so many feet away you only need 1 or sometimes 2 doors. The second door would be in case the first is blocked by fire, same as NEC. It’s only when it gets so large that the number of people trying to escape or the physical size of the building reaches a point that you need additional doors. The materials (amount of smoke expected) and occupancy limit affects it. Also the fact that most of the room is equipment affects it.

Personally I’d block/lock/chain over the door and put a “not an exit” sign on it. It’s simply not an exit. It’s an access door during maintenance, nothing more. Like a roof hatch.

 

[Jraef]

Is there room outside the doors? There's prefab platform+stair units that cost a couple thousand you could put outside the door. Especially since the door has a panic bar on it, it seems someone could use it without reading the sign either through a momentary loss of focus or during an emergency.

I agree. In an emergency / smoke filled room, is anyone going to be reading signs on doors, or just running for the nearest one? Required or not, a low cost stair or even a platform with an escape ladder, like on an apartment fire escape, is cheap insurance against someone falling and breaking their neck or being trapped in the room by a chained door.