Section 408.10639. Capacity as affected by population.

(1) The capacity of a means of egress from a building, floor, balcony, tier, or other occupied space shall be sufficient for the population thereof. The population for industrial and storage occupancies shall be based on the maximum number of employees or persons that may be in the space at any time as determined by actual count. All other types of occupancies shall be not less than the number computed in accordance with the provisions of table 2.

(2)     Mercantile occupancy in a single-story, noncombustible building with an approved, fully equipped automatic sprinkler system that is in compliance with General

Industry Safety Standard Part 9 “Fixed Fire Equipment,” as referenced in R 408.10606, may increase the square footage requirement in table 2 by 100%.

(3)   The population of an occupancy shall be limited to the existing exit capacity of a building or space.

(4)    Where an exit serves more than 1 floor, only the population of each floor considered individually need be used in computing the capacity of the exit at that level, if the exit capacity is not decreased in the direction of exit travel. Where a means of egress from floors above and below converge at an intermediate level, the capacity of the exit from the point of convergency shall be not less than the combined capacity of the converging exits.

(5)   Table 2 reads as follows:

TABLE 2
Type of occupancy	Square feet per person
Mercantile,     street    floor    or    sales basement	30
Mercantile, other floors	60
Mercantile, office	100
Mercantile, storage	300
Business	100
Hotel	200
Industrial	100
Note: The computed population of an occupancy is obtained by dividing the total floor area of a building, floor, or fire area by the indicated square feet per person. Total floor area means the floor area within the perimeter of the outside walls of a building, with no deductions for any of the following: (a)   Hallways. (b)   Stairs. (c)   Closets. (d)  Thickness of walls. (e)   Columns. (f)  Other features.

(6)     The capacity of an exit route shall be adequate. Information regarding the "Occupant load" is located in NFPA 101 “Life Safety Code,” 2009 edition and in the “International Fire Code” 2009 edition, as adopted in R 408.10606.

(7)   Exit routes shall support the maximum permitted occupant load for each floor served.

(8)    The capacity of an exit route shall not decrease in the direction of exit route travel to the exit discharge.

History: 1979 AC; 2015 AACS.