- Author
-
Bukowski, R. W.
|
Li, F.
- Title
- Using Elevators in Fires.
- Coporate
- Rolf Jensen and Associates, Inc., Baltimore, MD
Fire Protection Technology Consulting Co. Ltd., Shanghai, China
- Journal
-
Consulting-Specifying Engineer,
Vol. 47,
No. 5,
10-12,14,16,
June/July 2010
- Keywords
-
elevators (lifts)
|
egress
|
evacuation
|
occupants
|
response time
|
high rise buildings
|
standards
|
fire departments
|
building codes
|
escape means
|
emergencies
|
NFPA 100
|
NFPA 5000
|
signage
- Identifiers
- summary of requirements; outside the United States
- Abstract
- Engineers in the United States are rethinking the traditional stairwellcentered approach to emergency egress from buildings and embracing a more holistic strategy that includes all aspects of building design and operation, and their impacts on occupant safety. Elevators are a key component of this strategy. The effort is targeted at developing a consensus of the engineering and regulatory communities on how stairs, elevators, and other means of egress can meet the need for "timely" egress from and access to tall buildings in emergencies including fires. An early conclusion of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) investigation of the Sept. 11, 2001, events was the need for "timely" full evacuation of tall building occupants. Additionally, uninhibited access by emergency personnel is required. Above about 40 floors, egress can take more than 1 hour, so stairs alone are clearly inadequate. In the late 1990s, NIST worked with several federal emgencies and the elevator industry to study the use of elevators as a secondary means of egress to stairs. This resulted in changes in the Life Safety Code (NFPA 101) that allowed the use of elevators as a secondary means of egress in air traffic control towers, but an attempt to extend this to other occupancies in NFPA 101 never came about.