Walk every exit route from occupied space to safe discharge

Source facts: an exit route includes access, exit, and discharge

OSHA’s general-industry rules at 29 CFR 1910.36 address the design and construction of exit routes. They describe a continuous, unobstructed path from the workplace to a place of safety, including exit access, the protected exit portion, and exit discharge. The rules address permanence, number and separation of routes, discharge destination, door operation, capacity, and dimensional requirements. For example, exit access must be at least 28 inches wide at all points, while occupant load and other applicable rules can require more.

29 CFR 1910.37 covers operation and maintenance. Exit routes must remain free and unobstructed; materials or equipment may not be placed in them even temporarily. Safeguards must remain in working order, lighting and exit marking must be adequate, and routes must be maintained during construction, repairs, or alterations. Outdoor routes have additional safeguards for walking surfaces, guardrails, and snow or ice.

These federal OSHA provisions do not replace the adopted building, fire, accessibility, or life-safety code, and state-plan requirements may differ. The authority having jurisdiction determines project-specific compliance. DSE’s suggested inspection cadence below is an operating recommendation, not a claim that OSHA mandates that exact frequency.

DSE recommendation: inspect the path people will actually take

Create a route map from every normally occupied area, including mezzanines, stockrooms, conference rooms, temporary work areas, and leased suites. Identify primary and alternate paths, doors, stairs, areas of refuge where applicable, discharge doors, exterior walkways, gates, and assembly destinations. Validate the map with the approved life-safety plan rather than inventing an alternate around a known defect.

Start inside the occupied space. Check aisles, furniture, pallets, displays, cords, seasonal decorations, carts, equipment, and doors that could narrow or conceal the route. Walk from the least obvious workstation, not only from the corridor entrance.

Operate every door normally. Confirm the door is recognizable, opens from the egress side without a key, tool, or special knowledge where required, and does not bind or require improvised force. Refer rated-door, panic-hardware, delayed-egress, and electrified-lock concerns to qualified parties under the applicable code.

Read the route as an unfamiliar person. Check exit signs, directional signs where the path is not apparent, “Not an Exit” identification, lighting, floor-level changes, and confusing doors. Test after hours and during the lighting conditions in which occupants may evacuate.

Continue through discharge. Open the final door and walk to the approved safe destination. Look for fenced yards, locked gates, parked vehicles, delivery queues, construction barriers, snow piles, ice, flooding, trip hazards, poor lighting, or an assembly area that puts people in traffic or responder access.

Challenge changing conditions. Inspect during receiving, cleaning, events, tenant moves, construction, high occupancy, and severe weather. Temporary storage and a contractor’s barrier are still obstructions when an emergency occurs.

Make deficiencies operational. Record route and location, observed condition, time, immediate safeguard, responsible owner, correction target, and verification. If a required route cannot be used, escalate to the responsible safety and code authorities rather than posting an unofficial arrow.

Assign quick visual checks to people already present on each shift and a deeper documented route walk to a trained owner at a risk-based interval. Coordinate with housekeeping, facilities, warehouse, construction, security, and snow-removal teams because most route changes occur during ordinary work. Give employees a simple method to report a blocked or difficult exit without deciding the code issue themselves.

Exercise route assumptions during authorized drills, including an unavailable primary path and accountability at the exterior destination. Record door opening problems, wayfinding hesitation, congestion, mobility or communication needs, and discharge conflicts. After every correction, walk the complete path again. A cleared doorway is not enough if the corridor narrows, the stair door will not open, or the exterior gate remains locked.

Official references

Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 29 CFR 1910.36, Design and construction requirements for exit routes.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 29 CFR 1910.37, Maintenance, safeguards, and operational features for exit routes.