Exits - Michigan

Michigan’s state requirements regarding means of egress include a substantial amount of regulatory information beyond the federal requirements. Click the links below to view the applicable requirements.

Exits

Citations

Michigan: Occupational Health Standards, Part 6. Fire Exits

Federal: 29 CFR 1910.33, .34, .35, .36, .37, and Appendix to Subpart E

A summary of the additional requirements includes the following:

• At least two exits, remote from each other, must be provided for every building, floor, or fire area, including a basement, except when a single exit is approved. Where floor areas are divided into rooms, there must be at least two exits from every room, however small, except certain toilet rooms.
• Michigan specifies maximum distances to exits in various types of occupancy, and limits on the length of dead-end pathways (see R 408.10635 and .10636).
• Michigan uses a different method to calculate the capacity of a means of egress (see R 408.10637, .10638, and .10639).
• Each exit access must be at least 34 inches wide, and as wide as the exit to which it leads.
• A single leaf of an exit door must be between 28 inches and 48 inches wide.
  If a door or gate opens directly on a stairway, the swing of the door or gate must not reduce the floor area leading to the stairs to less than 20 inches wide.
• The force required to fully open any door in the means of egress must not be more than 50 pounds applied to the latch side.
• Handrails may reduce the required width of a stairway by up to 3-1/2 inches.
• Michigan has specific construction requirements for stairways used as a required exit (see R 408.10651).
• The floor area on either side of a horizontal exit must be sufficient to hold the occupants of both sides, with at least 3 square feet of clear floor area per person.
• Escalators used as means of egress must be fully enclosed above the ground floor and equipped with fire doors containing fusible links to protect the escalator area.
• Various requirements are provided for fire escape stairs and ladders.
• Means of egress must be illuminated by artificial lighting, maintaining an illumination of at least one foot candle measured at the floor.
• In a building with natural lighting subject to occupancy by more than 300 people, and in those for which no natural lighting is provided and subject to occupancy by more than 100 people, emergency lighting must be provided.
• Other specific egress requirements are provided for miscellaneous occupancies, including certain house trailers and other vehicles, ships, barges, and other vessels, open buildings, aircraft hangars, storage elevators, towers, piers, and water-surrounded buildings.