Last edited 08 May 2024

Protected escape route

Approved document B, Fire Safety, Volume 2, Buildings other than dwellinghouses, defines an escape route as:

‘The route along which people can escape from any point in a building to a final exit.’

Where a final exit is: 'The end of an escape route from a building that gives direct access to a street, passageway, walkway or open space, and is sited to ensure that people rapidly disperse away from the building so that they are no longer in danger from fire and/or smoke. NOTE: Windows are not acceptable as final exits.'

Escape routes can be protected or unprotected, where an unprotected escape route is the unprotected part of an escape route 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.

A protected corridor/lobby is, 'A corridor or lobby that is adequately protected from fire in adjoining areas by fire resisting construction.'

A protected stairways is, ‘A stair that leads to a final exit to a place of safety and that is adequately enclosed with fire resisting construction. Included in the definition is any exit passageway between the foot of the stair and the final exit.'

NB:

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