Egress

EGRESS is the term used for how one gets out of a building or individual room or unit, either in normal conditions or in emergencies. All spaces must have adequate provision for egress. When they are over a certain size, or under varying conditions covered in the code, a room or unit or a floor may need to have two means of egress. In most cases, any floor above the first floor with an occupant load of 10 or more will require two means of egress (usually stairs to separate exits). As logic would dictate, the two exits can't be too close together because a fire might block them both; therefore they are required to be separated by a minimum distance equal to 1/2 of the longest diagonal of the space.