Section 6: Access and egress

This section will introduce you to:

access and egress
required exits
paths of travel
requirements for exit doors
stair and ramp design
required signage
access for persons with
disabilities.

Intent of Section D
This section deals with the
movement of people in and
around the building, to ensure
that all parts of a building can be
easily accessed.
It covers nearly all forms of
vertical and horizontal
movement, and as is the case in
other sections of the BCA, places
a great deal of emphasis on
egress during a fire.

Intent of Section D
Most aspects of the movement of
people within, or around, a
building are usually catered for in
the functional requirements of
the building itself. The
requirements of the BCA generally
focus
on the occupants safety with
regard to the means of entering
(access) or leaving (egress) various
parts of the building.

These provisions cover a fairly wide range of issues,

such as:
width of corridors
door opening sizes
door operations and equipment

provision of stairs
stair and ramp design
provision of safety rails
number of access points
access for people with disabilities
number of and location of exits.
All of these provisions are intended to facilitate the
normal use of the building. More stringent aspects
are added for the provision of egress in case of fire.

In Details
Section D should be studied in
detail as the requirements have
a major influence on the actual
layout of the building.
The requirements for the
number and position of stairs,
paths of travel, etc., will have a
substantial influence on the
overall configuration and design
of a building.

BCA will not be looked at part

by part.
The focus will be on looking at
overall concepts by discussing
the central issues ie. doors,
stairs, etc., and highlighting
areas of special significance.

Intent of Section D
The requirements placed on egress are
quite logical, and are in line with the
overall intent of the BCA (as discussed
earlier).
In a fire situation, the need to quickly find
an exit and leave the building safely
without encountering smoke or fire is not
an unreasonable requirement.
As the number of occupants in a building
increase, greater requirements will be
made on escape routes.
In the case of buildings where the
occupants are infrequent visitors, the
provision of clear signage to escape
routes is also an obvious necessity.

Intent of Section D
To identify where specific areas
need to be enhanced to
accommodate the expected
number of people or situation in a
building, the BCA again relies on
the Classification of the Building
and the Type of Construction.
If you look at the provisions of
Section D based on this viewpoint,
understanding and interpreting the
requirements will be much easier.

Exit travel distance (Clause D1.4)

The distance of the path of travel is know as
the Exit Travel Distance and is the total
distance that a person would have to travel to
get to an exit. Exit, according to the BCA
means:
a) Any or any combination of the following if
they provide egress to a road or open space.
i) An internal ramp or stairway.
ii) A ramp.
iii) A fire-isolated passageway.
iv) A doorway opening to a road or open
space.
b) A horizontal exit, or a fire-isolated
passageway leading to a
horizontal exit.

The total Exit Travel Distance differs for

buildings with one exit or
multiple exits and with the Class of the
building or part building.

Figure 11
Figure 11 and Figure 12, on the
following pages, provide a guide
to the maximum Exit Travel
Distances in Class 2 & 3 and 5 to
9 buildings.
NOTE: The abbreviation SOU
shown in Figure 11 and Figure
12 means Sole-Occupancy Unit,
which is a defined term in the
BCA.

Figure 12

Figure 13
Figure 13 gives you an indication
of the reason for requiring
multiple exits.
The requirements for exits
depend on the building
classification, type of
construction and the number of
occupants.
The points given above need to
be assessed using these
parameters.

Paths of travel
In a fire situation, evacuation of the building
obviously needs to be by the quickest, and
consequently the shortest route.
It is unsafe to have people wandering around
a building in a haphazard fashion looking for
an exit.
As a means of achieving a speedy and orderly
evacuation, the BCA requires that an exit path
be established.
This path is referred to as the Path of Travel
and sets out the actual path people can use
when exiting a building during a fire.
The path of travel is also the maximum
permissible distance that the occupants will
actually need to travel to reach the outside or
a fire-isolated stair, ramp or passage.

Paths of travel
In Part D1 the actual construction and various
configurations for the paths of travel are
looked at in detail.
The intent is to ensure that the actual route
the occupants have to travel will be such that
the path of travel will:
Be the most direct route to the outside.
Not bring the occupants into contact with
hazardous
situations.
There are no obstructions in the path.
That the route is easily accessible and easy to
find.
That the route can cope with the number of
occupants.

Measuring exit travel distances

For the correct method of
measuring Exit Travel Distance
refer to Clause D1-15.
The following three examples
show how to measure various
exit distances.

Measuring exit travel distances

For the correct method of
measuring Exit Travel Distance
refer to Clause D1-15.
The following three examples
show how to measure various
exit distances.

Measuring exit travel distances

For the correct method of
measuring Exit Travel Distance
refer to Clause D1-15.
The following three examples
show how to measure various
exit distances.

Measuring exit travel distances

For the correct method of
measuring Exit Travel Distance
refer to Clause D1-15.
The following three examples
show how to measure various
exit distances.

Measuring exit travel distances

For the correct method of
measuring Exit Travel Distance
refer to Clause D1-15.
The following three examples
show how to measure various
exit distances.

Dimensions of exits and paths of travel to

exits (Clause D1.6)
Subclause (a) provides the minimum
height applicable to the path of travel to
an exit for all building classes. Note: That
doorways in the path of travel are
permitted a slightly reduced height.
Subclauses (b) to (e) provide the
minimum widths for the path of travel to
an exit in various locations and building
classes.
Subclause (f) provides the minimum
widths applicable to doorways in the path
of travel to an exit for all building classes.
Subclause (g) states that a path of travel
to an exit must not get narrower as you
travel toward the exit except in two
specified Patient Care locations.

Activity

Activity
Activity comments
For Figure 18 the applicable clause
is D1.4(c)(ii), ie. Total Travel to Exit
from point X exceeds 40m.
For Figure 19 the applicable clause
is D1.5(d), ie. Path of Travel to an
Exit from point X converges to less
than 6.0m.
For Figure 20 the applicable clause
is D1.4(c)(i), ie. Distance to Point of
Choice will exceed 20m maximum
from anywhere in the shaded
areas.

Activity Comment
The examples given in Activity 1 on the previous
page is for a Class 5 building, and suits the
particular requirements specific to the situation
shown.
Naturally the resolutions to meet requirements will
vary to meet particular requirements. However,
the basic parameters will not. Therefore, just like
the examples in Activity 1 you may have to relocate
stairs, etc. to suit particular situations.
Variations are also possible for different building
classifications, and you will have to study Section D
in detail in order to ascertain what requirements
you need to meet.
Establishing a path of travel is more than just
planning the route people will take in the event of
a fire. The path must be capable of being used, in
other words, it must be functional.

There are quite a number of requirements

associated with this functionality, all of which are
intended to ensure that the occupants of the
building can physically negotiate the route.
As the number of people in the building increases,
then the path of travel must be suitable to
accommodate them. This is achieved by ensuring
the route is wide enough, and has no obstructions
in it.
In the next section dealing with exits, the
requirements outlined relate directly back to those
for the Path of Travel. The two are in fact linked,
as is most of Section D.

Exits
The Path of Travel must lead to an exit, but what is an exit?
For the general public, exit means the door that leads directly
to the outside. However, the BCA has a much broader
interpretation of what is an exit. This point is clearly indicated
by the definition given in Section A A1, which reads as
follows:
Exit means:
a) Any or any combination of the following if they provide egress
to a road or open space.

i) An internal ramp or stairway.

ii) A ramp.
iii) A fire-isolated passageway.
iv) A doorway opening to a road or open space.
b) A horizontal exit, or a fire-isolated passageway leading to a
horizontal exit.

Exits
The requirements for exits depend
on the building classification, type
of construction and the number of
occupants.
What needs to be clearly
understood is that an exit is not
simply a door.
Exit means entering an area where
you can escape the building.

Exits
For example, an exit in 20-storey
building is the door leading into the
stairwell. However, it is only an exit
if the stair takes you to the ground
floor.
Depending on requirements an exit
may or may not have to be fireisolated.
Figure 22 shows the staircase that
the path of travel leads to. In this
case the staircase has to be fire
isolated, and as such once people
are in the actual staircase they are
considered to be in a safe area.

Exits
It should be noted that the
staircase must lead direct to the
outside and not be required to
enter another floor of the building.
However, not all stair cases need
be fire isolated, such as Class 5 9
buildings under three (3) storeys
and Class 2 & 3 buildings under
four (4) storeys. These are referred
to as non-fire isolated stairs and
travel distances are found in D1.9.

The requirements for fire-isolated

stairs are found in D1.7. An
external stair in lieu of a fire
isolated stair is a stair constructed
external to the building when a fire
isolated stair is required.
However, it has the same degree of
safety as if it were a fire isolated
stair. Details of this stair are found
at Dl.8.

Exits
There are also requirements on the
doors themselves with regard to
direction of swing, locking
mechanisms and door closers.
The need for this is considered to
originate from a fire in a Paris
nightclub in the seventies.
In that fire, 90 people died because
the exit doors opened into the
nightclub. The people could not get
out of the building because there
were so many people pushing at
the exit doors.

For residential type buildings such

as low-rise units, the requirements
on egress are not as stringent.
For example, Part D1.3 indicates
that for Class 2 buildings, every
required exit needs not to be fire
isolated if it is three storeys or less.
For Class 3 buildings, the building
can go up to three storeys.

Horizontal exits
A horizontal exit in the BCA
For example, assume that a
refers to a doorway leading to an
building has a firewall separating
area that is considered to be
two sections. The door between
safe eg. a fire-isolated
the sections can be used as the
passageway, ramp or separate
exit point.
fire-isolated compartment.
You should however, be careful
Although this appears to be the
in using this method as it still
same as what was discussed
requires you to meet specific
earlier, it is quite different, as it
travel distances to gain access to
is possible to use another firethe outside.
isolated part of the building as a
secondary area to escape to.

Horizontal exits
In establishing the requirements for paths of travel
and exits, the building classification and type of
construction play an important role.
However, as has already been indicated, the
number of occupants in a building or on a floor of
a building also has a major impact.
The method used to establish how many people
will be in a building is given in Table D1.13.
This table calculates the number of occupants
based on a floor area for each person:
For example if the building or floor has an area of
200 m and according to the table, 1 person will
occupy 10 m, then all design parameters must
allow for 20 people.

It is often argued by owners and designers, that

the outcome of using the BCA calculations is that
it gives a much higher number than will actually
be using the building. In some cases this may be
true.
However, the BCA logic is that the building will
eventually change ownership or the method of
operation resulting in a change of the number of
occupants.
Naturally under the performance criteria you can
present a case, and in some cases you may win.
But this will then result in a restriction on the
number of occupants in the building being placed
on the Certificate of Classification for the life of the
building.
The table used to establish the number of
occupants in building (Clause D1.13) is not only
used to establish the construction of exits, but is
also used in Section F to establish the number of
sanitary fixtures required in a building.

Part D2 Construction of exits

Exits are for all emergencies not
just for fire emergencies. That is
why they are called emergency
exits not fire exits. However,
fire is the one most in peoples
mind. As a designer, you should
think past this.

 The construction of the components of

the paths of travel. The intent is to ensure
that escape routes will provide a safe
means of travel and that this route will
not become a hazard during the course of
a fire, or any other emergency.
Clauses D2.2 to D2.6 looks at the actual
construction and materials used for stairs,
ramps and the walls that will form the
escape route areas.
The primary aim is to make the fittings
along the path of travel non-combustible,
and to ensure that smoke cannot enter
stairwells or passageways that are to be
used as required exits.

The requirements in Clauses D2.7 and

D2.8 are aimed at ensuring that possible
fire sources are not incorporated into
areas forming part of the exit or the path
of travel. If taken in context these
requirements are very logical, as they are
intended to prevent the possible fire
source from being incorporated into safe
areas.
Services and fittings such as electrical
wiring, fuel lines or ducting, which can
either start a fire or allow a fire to be
carried into the safe area.

 Clauses D2.9 and D2.10 is

The emphasis has so far been
intended to ensure that the path
on situations dealing with paths
of travel is correctly
of travel relative to fire
dimensioned to cater for the
situations.
number of occupants that could Clauses D2.13 to D2.18 also
be expected to use it during a
relate to fire situations, but also
fire.
to areas where there is no
Clauses D2.13 to D2.21 also deal
requirement for fire isolation or
with this aspect by indicating the
required exits.
dimensions and fittings
associated with stairs, ramps and
doors.

Stairs and ramps

The performance requirements relating to
egress within, and around buildings are stated
in Clause DP1 to DP9. Many of these aspects
have already been dealt with, however, the
emphasis has been on the movement of
people in a fire situation and not in the
context of the daily routine.
The movement of people in a building can be
divided into two parts ie. horizontal and
vertical. Horizontal movement is achieved by
passageways and corridors, with doors and
walls used as a means of regulating the flow
of traffic.

For this type of movement, the requirements

of the BCA are fairly straightforward and
concentrate on ensuring that corridors and
doors are wide enough. For normal usage
there are not a great deal of requirements
placed on these aspects, the greater part of
the legislation concentrates on egress in case
of a fire.
The requirements for vertical movement in a
building are more extensive and cover both
normal usage and egress in case of a fire. In
Section D all requirements relate to stairs and
ramps. Lifts are dealt with in Part E3. This is
quite logical as Section D concentrates on
egress during a fire and lifts may not be used
as means of escape.

Stair design
The BCA requirements for stairs are
intended to provide a safe and easy
access to different levels. To
achieve this, a set of parameters
relating to the height of the risers
and the lengths of the treads are
given (refer to Clause D2.13 and
Table D2.13).
The pitch or steepness of the stairs
are regulated by using the formula
2R + G (2 x rise + going), ensuring
that a staircase stays within
acceptable comfort conditions
for the user (Clause D2.13).