30

CHAPTER 2

Accordance for mental health treatment areas require that mental health patients who are not capable of self-care and are housed in spaces for group meetings or multipurpose therapeutic spaces other than incidental use areas, and under continuous supervision by facility staff, must be permitted to be open to the corridor, where the following criteria must be met:

Each area must not exceed 1500 square feet. The area is to be located so that supervision by the facility staff is permitted. The area is to be arranged so that access to exits is not obstructed in any way. The area is to be equipped with an automatic fire detection system. Not more than one such space is permitted in any one smoke compartment. The walls and ceilings of the space are to be constructed as required for corridors.

In these types of facilities there is almost always a gift shop where visitors and patients may go to purchase small items such as gum, flowers, daily newspapers or magazines, if permitted. These gift shops must be less than 500 square feet in area and must be permitted to be open to the corridor provided the gift shop and storage areas are fully equipped with sprinklers and the storage areas are protected in accordance with this code. Corridor walls must be constructed as smoke partitions. Doors, other than those in a wall required to be rated or for the enclosure of a vertical opening or an exit, shall not have a required fire protection rating and are not required to be equipped with self-closing or automatic-closing devices. These automatic-closing devices must provide an effective barrier to limit

CODE UPDATECODE UPDATE

An underground building is one that extends more than 30 feet below the finished floor of the lowest level of exit discharge.