In addition to the general means of egress requirements in Chapter 7, NFPA 101 contains occupancy-specific chapters (Chapters 12 through 42) that impose additional or modified door requirements based on the building use. The following sections cover the occupancy types with the most significant door-related provisions.
Assembly Occupancies (Chapters 12 and 13)
Assembly occupancies include theaters, auditoriums, restaurants, nightclubs, churches, arenas, and other spaces where large numbers of people gather. NFPA 101 imposes the strictest egress door requirements on assembly occupancies due to the high occupant loads and the risk of crowd crush during emergencies.
• Panic hardware or fire exit hardware is required on all egress doors serving an occupant load of 100 or more.
• Doors must swing in the direction of egress travel when the occupant load is 50 or more.
• Main entrance doors must be designed to handle at least one-half of the total occupant load.
• Revolving doors are limited and must have adjacent swinging doors.
• Turnstiles and gates used in assembly occupancies must meet the requirements of Section 7.2.1.11.
• Locks on assembly occupancy doors are not permitted while the space is occupied, with very limited exceptions.
Healthcare Occupancies (Chapters 18 and 19)
Healthcare occupancies include hospitals, nursing homes, and limited care facilities. NFPA 101 recognizes that patients may not be able to self-evacuate, which leads to a defend-in-place strategy. Door requirements in healthcare occupancies prioritize smoke compartmentalization and controlled movement over full building evacuation.
• Corridor doors in healthcare occupancies must resist the passage of smoke and be self-closing or automatic-closing.
• Doors to patient sleeping rooms are not required to latch in existing healthcare occupancies, but must still be self-closing.
• Cross-corridor doors forming smoke barriers must be self-closing or automatic-closing, and must be arranged to minimize air leakage.
• Delayed egress locks are permitted in certain healthcare applications where patients are not capable of self-preservation, subject to the conditions in Section 7.2.1.6.1.
• Access-controlled egress is commonly used in behavioral health units, neonatal intensive care units, and dementia care units.
• Horizontal exits are frequently used in healthcare to create separate smoke compartments for defend-in-place evacuation.
Educational Occupancies (Chapters 14 and 15)
Educational occupancies include schools, daycare centers, and training facilities. NFPA 101 addresses the need to manage large numbers of students, many of whom may be children, during an emergency evacuation.
• Panic hardware or fire exit hardware is required on egress doors serving an occupant load of 100 or more.
• Classroom doors must allow free egress from the classroom side at all times during occupied hours.
• Corridor doors serving classrooms may be locked from the corridor side to restrict entry but must always allow free egress from the classroom.
• Delayed egress locks are generally not permitted in educational occupancies.
• Classroom door barricade devices that are not listed and do not comply with Chapter 7 egress hardware requirements are not permitted by NFPA 101.
Business Occupancies (Chapters 38 and 39)
Business occupancies include office buildings, government buildings, and professional service facilities. Door requirements in business occupancies are generally less restrictive than assembly or healthcare, but still require compliance with the core means of egress provisions.
• Panic hardware is not required unless the occupant load exceeds thresholds or the AHJ requires it.
• Lever hardware is the standard for business occupancy egress doors.
• Corridor doors may be equipped with access-controlled egress locks per Section 7.2.1.6.2.
• Delayed egress locks are permitted where the building is fully sprinklered or has a complete automatic fire detection system.
• Stairwell doors in business occupancies follow the general requirements of Chapter 7.