Elevators

and Egress
by Beth Tubbs, P.E., ICC Senior Staff Engineer

he use of elevators has historically been prohibited for the capability of a “Phase I” elevator recall, which is es-

T during fire emergencies. However, this philosophy

is increasingly being reconsidered—especially for
“super” high-rise buildings in which stairs may not be the
sentially an override which relocates elevators to the level
of fire department response by manual or automatic means.
Thus, even if elevators are specifically promoted for egress,
best evacuation option for occupants with disabilities or de- once Phase I recall has been activated by smoke detectors in
bilitating health problems such as asthma or arthritis. Com- the elevator lobby, machine room or hoistway or due to ac-
bined with post-9/11 concerns, the unique characteristics of tivation of the Phase I key switch, they will not be available
such buildings has shifted the focus solely from phased and for general occupant egress.
partial evacuation to the capability of full building evacua-
tion, making elevators a critical part of the overall emer- Accessible Egress
gency egress system. With elevator-assisted evacuation now Section 1007 of the 2006 IBC requires the availability of el-
being allowed in several countries around the world, the evators for accessible egress. More specifically, five-story
subject bears a closer look. buildings or buildings with four or more stories below the
level of exit discharge require an elevator for egress for
Basic Requirements those with disabilities, with two exceptions: in “Fully sprin-
The 2006 International Building Code (IBC) does not klered buildings [. . .] where a horizontal exit is provided
mandate how or when a building should be evacuated. and the building story is located at or above the level of exit
Rather, it provides requirements for key elements related to
safe emergency egress such as sprinklers, exit enclosures,
smoke proof enclosures, and alarm and communication ACCESSIBLE
FLOOR
systems.
It is important to note that the IBC does not limit the use of
available means of egress to fire events or prohibit the use of
FIVE
elevators for evacuation. Nor does it mandate a particular STORIES
strategy for evacuation. What the code does require is signage LEVEL OF
at all elevator call stations that reads: “IN FIRE EMER- EXIT DISCHARGE

GENCY, DO NOT USE ELEVATOR. USE EXIT STAIRS.”

In high-rise buildings, the code also requires that emergency
voice communication systems activate, at a minimum, on the
fire floor and the floors directly above and below. Practically
LEVEL OF
speaking, then, the capability of staged evacuation of high-rise EXIT DISCHARGE
buildings is assumed as a minimum, and many of the current
prescriptive code requirements reflect that concept. Beyond
that, it is a local- and building-specific decision as to how FOUR
STORIES
evacuation strategies are established. ACCESSIBLE
In addition, there is a requirement in American Society of FLOOR

Mechanical Engineers (ASME) A17.1, Safety Code for Ele-

vators and Escalators—adopted by reference in the IBC— ACCESSIBLE ELEVATOR REQUIRED

40 Building Safety Journal June 2007

discharge,” or “If a ramp is provided in accordance with
Section 1010 and the building is sprinklered in accordance
with NFPA [National Fire Protection Association] 13 or 13R
[. . .].” The first exception was created to reflect the use of
a “shelter in place” strategy by hospitals in which the build-
ing is divided into smoke compartments via horizontal exits.
The second exception was created to accommodate stadi-
ums that employ ramps to achieve elevator-equivalent
access for occupants with disabilities.
IBC Section 1007.4 mandates that in order for elevators
to be considered part of an accessible means of egress, they
must be equipped with standby power and Phase II opera-
tion. (Phase II operation is provided by controls built into an
elevator that allow fire department personnel to move about
the building as needed during an emergency, and therefore
facilitates assisted rescue rather than general evacuation.)
Thus, the two occupant evacuation strategies prescriptively
required by the code are:
1. sheltering in place in an exit enclosure or at an elevator
until fire department personnel can assist in rescue, or Stratosphere Tower, Las Vegas, Nevada.
2. accessing a horizontal exit that leads away from the initial
fire incident.
Emerging Alternatives
and Ongoing Research
ELEVATORS Internationally, and in some cases within the U.S., the use of
elevators for egress is becoming more common. The
EXIT STAIRWAY EXIT STAIRWAY concept of refuge floors is also increasingly being used to
more seamlessly accommodate the use of elevators by oc-
AREA OF REFUGE cupants during emergency situations. The strategy is to have
occupants congregate on specific floors via stairs, then
AREA OF REFUGE
evacuate through the use of express elevators. Just such an
approach has been employed in the Stratosphere Tower in
Las Vegas, Nevada. The single emergency stairwell was
considered impractical for emergency evacuation of the
1,149-foot-high structure, so its four high-speed, double-
AREAS OF REFUGE
deck elevators were designed for emergency use: one for
firefighters and the remaining three for occupants. The
evacuation strategy involves removing occupants via stairs
to two refuge floors, from which they can evacuate via the
1/2 RATED DOORS TYPICAL
HORIZONTAL EXIT ENCLOSED elevators.
EXIT STAIRWAY
Although such emergency egress systems are currently
much more common outside of this country, a significant
ELEVATORS
amount of research on the subject has been conducted by
U.S. building and fire safety professionals. Among the most
notable is a 1995 study headed by John H. Klote, D.Sc.,
P.E., for the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST). The group’s recommendations for strengthening
2 HR FIRE BARRIER
elevators for emergency egress included:
1/2 RATED DOORS
• earthquake protection,
TYPICAL HORIZONTAL EXIT • provision of an emergency power supply,
ENCLOSED
EXIT STAIRWAY • provision of emergency communication systems,
• smoke and heat protection,
FULLY SPRINKLERED BUILDING • protection against suppression water infiltration,
June 2007 Building Safety Journal 41
Elevators and Egress (continued)
• resistance to the spread of contaminants and
gaseous agents, and
• attention to human factors in management and occupant
education/training.
In response to the tragic events of 9/11, ASME organized
a conference in March 2004 that focused on the safe use of
elevators during emergencies. Recommendations generated
by the participants were forwarded to a pair of ASME task
groups that include representatives from the elevator indus-
try and manufacturers of devices such as fire alarms, the fire
service, model codes and standards development organiza-
tions, and the accessibility community as well as fire pro-
tection engineers, architects and specialists in human
factors and behavior. One group was tasked with focusing
on occupant evacuation using elevators and the other on the
use of elevators by firefighters, and a hazard analysis has
been undertaken for each subject.
The analysis of occupant use of elevators is considering
possible residual hazards and corrective actions for partial References
and full building evacuations. Key assumptions of the Bukowski, R.W. “Protected Elevators for Egress and
analysis include the following: Access during Fires in Tall Buildings.” Proceedings of the
• a new high-rise office building complying with ASME CIB-CTBUH International Conference on Tall Buildings.
A17.1S-2005 and 2006 model building codes, 2003. International Council on Research and Innovation in
• a single fire source, Building and Construction. Rotterdam, Netherlands.
• provision of a full-coverage smoke detection system
per NFPA 72, Klote, J.H., B.M. Levin and N.E. Groner. “Emergency
• building is fully sprinkled per NFPA 13, Elevator Evacuation Systems.” Proceedings of the Second
• provision of an emergency voice communication Symposium on Elevators, Fire and Accessibility. 1995.
system, American Society of Mechanical Engineers. New York.
• the absence of a horizontal escape route and stairs and
elevators the only vertical movement routes, and Tubbs, J. and B. Meacham. Egress Design Solutions: A
• occupant self-evacuation with elevators prior to auto- Guide to Evacuation and Crowd Management Planning.
matic (e.g., smoke detector) activation of Phase I recall. 2007. John Wiley & Sons. New York.
The analysis is not yet complete and conclusions cannot
be drawn at this time, but several important considerations
have emerged. First and foremost is that the strategy should
not be focused solely upon occupants with disabilities but
all those who cannot use stairs. Additional considerations
when reviewing and applying the results of the analysis
should include the likelihood of there being some percent-
age of “transient” occupants unfamiliar with a particular
building as well as the need for adjustments for different
occupancies and occupant behaviors.
Although many would like to see more buildings or
scenarios addressed in this analysis, it promises to establish
a basis for future study and application. From the code
perspective, the next step will be for ASME to meet with the
ICC Code Technology Committee and the National Institute
of Building Sciences Multihazard Mitigation Council to
investigate how these issues may be addressed through the
codes and standards development processes. ◆
42 Building Safety Journal June 2007