Unobstructed Exit

[dema]

110.26 Workspace
(C) (2) (a) allows for a single entrance if there is a continuous, unobstructed path of exit. If the electrical equipment is on the walls, with no rear access required, and no equipment in the center of the room, does this necessarily constitute the required path? Would the accumulated junk that people put in the electrical room in direct violation of required clearances cause the design engineer to have liability on this issue?

 

[wirenut1980]

Re: Unobstructed Exit

I can't imagine the engineer would be held responsible if the user stored a bunch of junk in the electrical room. What the user does after the fact is their own perrogative (sp?). It's kind of like the situation where you see a branch circuit overloaded because the end-user plugs in a bunch of power strips, and sometimes even daisy-chains the power strips off one another...Again, nothing the engineer or installer or inspector can do about that. Maybe keep the electrical room locked so the user cannot get in :roll:

 

[charlie b]

Re: Unobstructed Exit

Since you are talking about 110.26(C)(2)(a), you must be dealing with ?large equipment.? I don?t think you are going to get a 6 foot wide, 1200 amp component mounted on a wall. If you are talking about the small 120/240 volt or 480/277 volt panels you commonly see in commercial applications, you don?t need to have a second entrance to the room. Also, the path between the equipment and the exit need not be unobstructed.

But to answer your specific question, ?does this necessarily constitute the required path,? I would say ?no.? If you open the front panel door, to allow you to reach inside, and if the open panel is now between you and the exit, then the path is not unobstructed. The panel door would have to swing in the direction that does not put it between the worker and the exit.