November 11, 2002—Requirements for exiting buildings quickly during an emergency have been rewritten in a user-friendly format, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced recently. The revised Exit Routes, Emergency Action Plans, and Fire Prevention Plans Standard becomes effective on December 7, 2002.
The requirements for exit routes have been updated and rewritten in easy-to-understand terms. For example, “Means of Egress” will now be referred to as “Exit Routes.” The 30-year-old text has been reorganized and inconsistencies and duplicative requirements have been removed. The revised rule has fewer subparagraphs and a smaller number of cross-references to other OSHA standards than the previous version.
Employers now have the option of adopting the National Fire Protection Associations’ Life Safety Code, instead of the OSHA standard for exit routes. OSHA evaluated the NFPA standard and concluded that it provides comparable safety.
The revised standard, which offers more compliance options for employers, does not change the regulatory obligations of the employer or the safety and health protections provided to the employees of the original standard.
The Exit Routes, Emergency Action Plans, and Fire Prevention Plans standard is scheduled for publication in the November 7, 2002 Federal Register.
