SECTION 554.335. Exit Provisions

Exit provisions, including doors, corridors, stairways, and other exit-ways, locks, and other applicable items must conform to the requirements of NFPA 101 concerning means of egress and of this section in order to ensure that residents can be rapidly and easily evacuated from the building at all times, or from one part of the building to a safe area of refuge in another part of the building. Exit provisions are as follows:

(1) Bedroom space arrangement and doors and corridors must be designed for evacuation of bedfast residents by means of rolling the bed to a safe place in the building or to the outside.

(2) Public assembly, common living rooms, dining rooms, and other rooms with a capacity of 50 or more persons or greater than 1,000 square feet must have two means of exit remote from each other. Out-swinging doors with panic hardware must be provided for these exits.

(3) Exit doors and ways of egress must be maintained clear and free for use at all times, except as permitted by NPFA 101. Furnishings, equipment, carts, and other obstacles must not be left to block egress at any time.

(4) Steps in interior ways of egress are prohibited. If changes of elevation are necessary within ways of egress, approved ramps with maximum slope of one unit of rise to 12 units of run must be used.

(5) Doors in means of egress must be as follows:

(A) Locking hardware or devices which are capable of preventing or inhibiting immediate egress must not be used in any room or area that can be occupied.

(B) A latch or other fastening device on an exit door must be provided with a knob, handle, panic bar, or similar releasing device. The method of operation must be obvious in the dark, without use of a key, and operable by a well known one-action operation that will easily operate with normal pressure applied to the door or to the device toward the exterior. Locking hardware which prevents unauthorized entry from the outside is permissible. Self-closing devices and permanently mounted hold-open devices to expedite emergency egress and prevent accidental lock-out must be provided for exterior exit doors.

(C) No screen or storm door may swing against the direction of exit travel where main doors are required to swing out.

(D) To aid in control of wandering residents, buzzers or other sounding devices may be used to announce the unauthorized use of an exit door. Other methods include approved emergency exit door locks or fencing with a gate outside of exit doors which enclose a space large enough to allow the space to be an exterior area of egress and refuge away from the building.

(E) Inactive leaves of double doors may have easily accessible and easily operable bolts if the active leaf is 44 inches wide, where permitted by NFPA 101. Center mullions are prohibited.

(F) Resident baths or toilets having privacy locks will require that keys or devices for opening the doors are kept readily available to the staff.

(G) Folding doors must not be used in exit corridors or exit-ways. Sliding doors, where permitted by NFPA 101, may be used as secondary doors from residents' bedrooms to grade or to a balcony, or in certain other areas, where permitted by NFPA 101. Corridor doors to rooms must swing into the room or be recessed so as not to extend into the corridor when open; however, doors ordinarily kept closed may be excepted.

(6) Horizontal exits, if provided, must be according to NFPA 101.

(7) Areas outside of exterior exit doors must be as follows:

(A) Provision must be made to accommodate and facilitate continuation of emergency egress away from a building for a reasonable distance beyond the outside exit door, especially for movement of non-ambulatory residents in wheelchairs and beds. Any condition which may retard or halt free movement and progress outside the exit doors will not be allowed. Ramps must be used outside the exit doors in lieu of steps whenever possible.

(B) The landing outside of each exit door must be essentially the same elevation as the interior floor and level for a distance equal to the door width plus at least four feet. Generally, the difference in floor elevation at an exterior door must not be over 1/2 inch with the outside slope not to exceed 1/4 inch per foot sloping away from the door for drainage on the exterior. In locations north of the +20 Fahrenheit Isothermal Line as defined in the ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals, the landing outside of all exit doors must be protected from ice build-up which would prohibit the door from opening or would be a slip hazard.

(C) Emergency egress lighting immediately outside of exit doors is required as a part of the building emergency lighting system. Photocell devices may be used to turn lights off during daylight hours.

(8) The requirements of an emergency lighting system must be in accordance with §19.341 of this division (relating to Electrical Requirements).

Source Note: The provisions of this §554.335 adopted to be effective July 1, 1996, 21 TexReg 4408; amended to be effective March 22, 2018, 43 TexReg 1646; transferred effective January 15, 2021, as published in the Texas Register December 11, 2020, 45 TexReg 8871