IBC: MEANS OF EGRESS ILLUMINATION

[faresos]

Hello everyone:

I'm reading IBC section "1008.2 Illumination required. The means of egress serving a room or space shall be illuminated at all times that the room or space is occupied."

I'm a little confuse with the wording "...at all times", Does that means we have to have a night lights? Currently we have occupancy sensors controlling the lights in the corridors, which means, if there is any activity the lights will be on. I was told that a night lights will be required per this section. I never had to do this before so I'm a little confuse about is as most of the energy codes prohibit this. The building is for dental offices. Any thoughts?

 

[retirede]

You took “at all times” out of context. Read the complete sentence.

 

[faresos]

So they refer to the room or space as the corridor (means of egress) as well?

 

[faresos]

You took “at all times” out of context. Read the complete sentence.

so lets say there is an occupied room (an office), shouldn't the light at the corridor be On all the time since it's serving this occupied room (office)?

 

[retirede]

so lets say there is an occupied room (an office), shouldn't the light at the corridor be On all the time since it's serving this occupied room (office)?

I can see how you could interpret it that way. Maybe others will chime in who are more familiar with this.
You could have an additional sensor in the office that keeps the corridor lights on, but I don’t recall seeing that done before.

 

[James L]

I've not done a ton of apartments, but I've always seen/done it with night lights. As far as I know, it doesn't specify any level of lighting.

A night light in the middle, or one at each end is usually sufficient to provide a constant faint glow, then the remaining can be motion activated.