S-3, r. 2 - Regulation respecting safety in public buildings

Section 20 Disposition versions

2012-09-01

20. Indoor stairways used as exits:

(1)  Indoor stairways used as exits shall:

(a)  be separated from the floor area as prescribed in section 8;

(b)  not be used for any other purpose; however, they may, from one floor area, have access to another floor area;

(c)  have doors on each storey that are always kept closed.

To be considered 2 separate exits, adjacent stairways shall be reached by doors that are sufficiently far apart from each other to be inaccessible to the same concentration of smoke or flames, unless the parts of the floor area served by these exits are separated from each other by a smoke-proof partition having a fire-resistance rating of at least 3/4 of an hour.

(2)  Notwithstanding subsection 1:

(a)  An electro-magnetic hold-open device is allowed for inside exit doors not used for a building of more than 3 stories, sleeping accommodation or a storage garage, provided that the device is actuated by a fire alarm system and by smoke detectors installed near the door on the side of the floor area and above the upper flight of the stairway.

(b)  An unpartitioned indoor stairway permitted under paragraph a of subsection 7 of section 18 may be used as an exit to a floor area not used for sleeping accommodation or without a high occupant load, provided that:

i.  half of the exits required comply with section 8, have no door hold-open device and lead directly outside;

ii.  the total distance from the ground floor to the exit does not exceed 15 m;

iii.  the building is equipped with an alarm system; and

iv.  a smoke detector connected to the alarm system is installed above the upper flight of the stairway.

(c)  An inside unpartitioned stairway in a school with no more than 3 stories in building height may be used as an exit if:

i.  half of the exits required comply with section 8, have no door hold-open device and lead directly outside;

ii.  the stairway need not be used to reach a partitioned exit stairway, except to serve part of a floor area whose occupant load does not exceed 60;

iii.  a corridor leading to the stairway is separated from it by a fire separation with a fire-resistance rating of at least 3/4 of an hour, by a door with a self-closing device and a latch and, where the door is held open, by an electro-magnetic device connected to a fire alarm system;

iv.  a smoke detector connected to a fire alarm system is installed over the upper flight of the stairway, on the ceiling of a corridor provided for in subparagraph iii and in each of the storage premises leading directly to an open stairway; and

v.  premises leading directly to the stairway are separated from it by a fire separation having a fire-resistance rating of at least 3/4 of an hour and by a door with a self-closing device and a latch.

(d)  Doors used for a dwelling unit may lead directly to an inside exit stairway, provided that:

i.  the dwelling unit has a second means of egress independent from the first;

ii.  the building has no more than 4 stories in building height;

iii.  the doors have a fire-resistance rating of at least 20 minutes.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. S-3, r. 4, s. 20; O.C. 88-91, s. 19.