OVERVIEW

After the events of September 11, 2001, and the collapse of the two World Trade Center Towers in New York City, exiting, or egress, from high-rise and commercial buildings took on urgent proportions as never before. Building owners, public safety officials, architects, and engineers have since been carefully studying optimal ways to design and protect buildings to ensure complete and swift building occupant evacuation. This information has formed the basis for continued research by public and private sector groups nationwide, with the goal of developing effective strategies for high-rise building design and construction techniques.

HIGH-RISE EGRESS SYSTEM OVERVIEW

The term high-rise building, refers to a multistory building equipped with elevators. For most commercial office buildings, the term generally applies to all buildings above a statutory height limit, usually 75 feet tall, based on firefighting equipment and procedures. This important benchmark has valid reasons. However, substantial differences in life safety requirements and egress systems exist among buildings 75 feet tall, 750 feet tall, or even 1750 feet tall. Egress systems and fire protection systems, both active and passive, for truly high-rise buildings, require greater interdependence and redundancy.

Egress refers to the act or means of going or coming out of a building, or a path, opening, or place of exiting. The...