Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: ADA Emergency Exit Question

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Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 08-15-2005, 07:26 PM:

According to ADA guidelines, do emergency exit doors need to be ramp accessible or can the emergency exit have stairs leading to it?

I would assume the latter since multi-story buildings certainly don't have ramps running down for emergency exits.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-17-2005, 01:22 PM:

The best place for the answer as applies to your facility would be your local building inspectors office or the public safety dept. We have a waiver covering a similar circumstance at foreward exits in our auditorium. It was granted solely due to the age of the building, and impossibility of changing.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 08-17-2005, 05:39 PM:

I was just curious. I was at AMC Pleasure island 24 and in Auditorium 19, they had retrofitted a sloped house to a stadium house (they must have dug down because even the front are stadium, not sloped). There was a huge waste of space on both sides of the front of the auditorium where they left the old grade aisle from the handicapped area to the exit doors. Since the seats are now lower than those aisles, additional aisles were needed in the front.

It didn't make any sense to me to have to do it that way because like I said, multi-story buildings have stairwells as emergency exits.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-17-2005, 10:45 PM:

I imagine that at least SOME of the exits need to be at-grade unless, due to the original construction of the building, there is a reason it can't be done.

I do know that there is a rule in Pennsylvania whereby there must be at least one employee per 250 customers in the auditorium who can direct occupants to the emergency exits. This is not an A.D.A. rule. It's in the fire code.

So, the second rule would tend to alleviate problems for the first rule because, if there is an emergency and there is a handicapped person in the house, the employee can, at least, tell them how to get out.

Also that second rule makes it technically illegal to run a theater as a 2-man operation (e.g.: 1 ticket/concession & 1 proj./usher, etc.) if there are more than 500 seats in the building. I suppose you could claim that there will never be more than 500 customers on slow nights and that, if there was a sudden rush, you could quickly call in more employees to manage crowds.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 08-18-2005, 12:09 AM:

quote: Randy Stankey
I imagine that at least SOME of the exits need to be at-grade

But why? Like I said, in a two story office building, the only way out in a fire is the stairs. Yes, it would be completely impractical to have ramps running down buildings but, if it's OK for a normal building and somebody can carry or push a wheel chair down stairs then why should theatres have to live up to a higher standard? Especially when this higher standard cuts into the usable space of an auditorium significantly.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-18-2005, 08:49 AM:

quote:
I imagine that at least SOME of the exits need to be at-grade unless, due to the original construction of the building, there is a reason it can't be done..

Wouldn't your situation qualify as an "original construction" issue?

Further, if there are enough employees in the building to help customers get out your problem is alleviated. No?

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 08-18-2005, 11:37 AM:

quote: Randy Stankey
Wouldn't your situation qualify as an "original construction" issue

In the specific case I was referring to, then yes absolutely it is an "original construction" issue.

But, even in a new build, compromises and ineffecient use of space are caused by providing ramp-accessible emergency exits.

An original construction I was at last week had an extra aisle in the front 1/3rd of the auditorium which was only usable as an emergency exit. You couldn't access any of the front seating from that aisle.

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 08-18-2005, 02:16 PM:

ADA and most fire code laws are more stringent regarding public spaces such as cinemas vs office buildings so methods avoiding stairs are an issue. I did a 14 plex on the second floor of a shopping center in which considerable fireproof exit hallways where provided to connect to an ajacent parking garage; the proposed plan was to use the parking exit ramps to avoid stairs.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-18-2005, 04:41 PM:

quote: Richard Fowler
ADA and most fire code laws are more stringent regarding public spaces such as cinemas

Take 200 people, put them into a dark room and you're bound to have a mess on your hands when an emergency happens. Put the same 200 people into a well lighted grocery store and I'd bet the place could be cleared out in half the time.

Yes, in many cases, I agree that fire and A.D.A. laws can cause a lot of waste and inefficiency in terms of building construction. However, if it's possible to save lives in an emergency by doing something as simple as making sure there are enough doors leading out of the room then, in many cases, I believe it's worth the trouble. (What if YOU were the one sitting in that dark room when a fire broke out?!)

In your case, where the auditorium is on a second story, I agree it would be silly to put ramps all the way down but, on the other hand, there needs to be a secondary means of egress for people in chairs. I don't believe the laws were made simply to force compliance on certain standards but to force peole who build public building to THINK about standards and how to build them safely.

I'm sure there's some bureaucrat out there who will disagree with me on that, though! [Big Grin]