Warehouse Racking where Exist Signs are Required

[stuartdmc]

We were called on a code violation today, the inspector visited the warehouse where we had engineered egress lighting for the aisles withing the racking of a warehouse he past the egress lighting but stated that based off of chapter 10 of the CBC we needed exist signs at the end of all aisles between the racking.

I cant find the section that states this nor any exceptions other then the occupancy load that's under 50 doesn't require exists, and our warehouse occupancy load is 200.

Does anyone have a way around this?

 

[steve66]

I've seen a diagram of this exact same situation. I believe it was in the life safety handbook.

If I remember correctly, it showed two diagrams of a warehouse with rows of storage. Picture about 7 asiles, with 2 common isles at the ends, and exit doors at the common asiles.

One diagram had exit signs at each end of every row with a caption that stated "Incorrect application of blah-blah-blah".

It had another diagram that showed only exit signs at the ends of the common isles and stated "Correct application of blah-blah-blah."

Sometimes common sense has to prevail. Most storage warehouses are arranged so that there are exits on either side of the asiles, so you can really exit by going either direction.

 

[mistermudd]

I know no way around this. The building code guy or Fire Marshall says they need to be there, they need to be there. But the guy should, if asked, provide clearer information. I would nicely ask him to talk it out with him and maybe his supervisor. His hands may be tied, if an emergency happened and he let you slide and not everyone got out, he and his agency would be up a creek. Approached correctly, it should not hurt anything. Anyways this has nothing to do with NEC what so ever. .

 

[JoeStillman]

If there's an architect on your project, he may be abl to help. I'm not familiar with the CBC. All my work is in IBC-land. If CBC is like IBC, then exit signs are only required in spaces that are part of the "Egress System". The Egress System comprises corridors, stairs and certain doors. The rooms themselves are not usually part of the system. This is where the Architect can help. He should have defined what parts of the building are the Egress System and what parts are not.

 

[north star]

= + =

"Does anyone have a way around this?"

As a recommendation, ...I would not try to "go around this", but rather,
try to work with the AHJ to accomplish compliance......If the inspector
cited Ch. 10 of the CBC, have you looked at Ch. 10?....Also, ...here is link
to Ch. 10 of the CBC: - - > https://bulk.resource.org/codes.gov/bsc.ca.gov/gov.ca.bsc.2010.02.1.pdf

+ = +