Final exit for escape routes
Approved document B, Fire Safety, Volume 2, Buildings other than dwelling houses (2019 edition), defines a final exit as:
| The end of an escape route from a building that gives direct access to a street, passageway, walkway or open space, and is sited to ensure that people rapidly disperse away from the building so that they are no longer in danger from fire and/or smoke. NOTE: Windows are not acceptable as final exits. |
NB Approved document B previously defined a final exit as:
| The termination of an escape route from a building giving direct access to a street, passageway, walkway or open space, and sited to ensure the rapid dispersal of persons from the vicinity of a building so that they are no longer in danger from fire and/or smoke. Windows are not acceptable as final exits. |
The Code of practice: Hardware for fire and escape doors, Issue 5, published by DHF and GAI in November 2024, defines a final exit simply as 'an exit from a building where people can continue to disperse in safety and where they are no longer in danger from fire and/ or smoke'
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
- Approved document.
- Approved document B.
- Automatic release mechanism.
- Building regulations.
- Escape route.
- Exit passageway.
- Fire.
- Fire compartment.
- Fire detection and alarm systems.
- Fire door.
- Fire protection engineering.
- Fire resistance.
- Firefighting route.
- Means of escape.
- Protected escape route.
- Protected stairway.
- Storey exit.
- Unprotected escape route.
- Vomitory.
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