Discounting exit routes

[wee brian]

Mike - lost me there.

Are you saying that I dont need to worry about the 45 degrees in rooms with more than two doors???

Surely not.

The principal is simple enough. If two doors are next to each other then they are really one exit. The 45 degree rule gives you a rulle of thumbe for deciding how far apart they need to be to be regarded as seperate.

[jokar]

Please can I just state that this is not a single issue.  Fire safety is joined up thinking and the point about the angle of divergence is just one of the things to consider with horizontal evacuation before vertical evac where necessary has a part to play.

[Tom Sutton]

As far as discounting an exit for occupancy then surely unless there is an obvious hazard ie the two doors opening into a common area, or sited next to each other there should not be a problem.

As you say if you have two exits close to each other then a fire could prevent the use of both exits (a problem) the only way to ensure that a fire could not affect both exits is they would have to be a distance apart and the 45 degree rule is the prescriptive way to determine this distance. If you cannot achieve this distance then risk assessment may provide a solution.

Thanks Stu very informative and I like the terminology you used.

[Mike Buckley]

No Brian I was commenting on the guide. In that it looks to me as if the 45 degree rule applies to travel distance. Therefore if at the limit for escape in one direction all the doors are within 45 degrees then it is escape in one direction only.