Escape route
To help develop this article, click ‘Edit this article’ above.
Approved document B, Fire Safety, Volume 2, Buildings other than dwellinghouses, defines an escape routes as a:
| Route forming that part of the means of escape from any point in a building to a final exit. |
Where a final exit is:
'The termination of an escape route from a building giving direct access to a street, passageway, walkway or open space and sited to ensure the rapid dispersal of persons from the vicinity of a building so that they are no longer in danger from fire and/or smoke.'
Windows are not acceptable as final exits.
Escape routes may be protected or unprotected, where an unprotected part of an escape route, is that part ‘…which a person has to traverse before reaching either the safety of a final exit or the comparative safety of a protected escape route, i.e. a protected corridor or protected stairway.’
See unprotected escape route and protected escape route for more information.
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Automatic release mechanism.
- Building evacuation.
- Emergency lighting.
- Evacuating vulnerable and dependent people from buildings in an emergency FB 52.
- Exit passageway.
- Fire compartment.
- Fire detection and alarm systems.
- Fire door.
- Fire Door Inspection Scheme.
- Fire Prevention on Construction Sites.
- Fire protection engineering.
- Fire resistance.
- Fire separation.
- Firefighting route.
- Inner room.
- Means of escape.
- Protected escape route.
- Protected stairway.
- Storey exit.
- The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
- Unprotected escape route.
- Visual alarm devices - their effectiveness in warning of fire.
- Vomitory.
- Width of doors stairs and escape routes.
Featured articles and news
Achieving air tightness in buildings.
What are the benefits of smart homes for Millennial end-users?
How dynamic briefing can result in an efficient project.
Achieving sustainable roads funding in England.
Your chance to comment on the draft BS 851188 - flood resistance products and flood protection products.
Rebuilding could take 20 to 40 years.
RSHP’s high-rise residential towers win a tall buildings award for excellence.
BSRIA study reveals strong growth in 2018.
Quality in Construction Summit
Dame Judith Hackitt confirmed as keynote speaker – one year on from the Hackitt Report.
Save £100 on tickets.
Modern slavery in the construction sector.
What to bear in mind when claiming damages in construction.
How do we achieve sustainable clean-water infrastructure for all?