§ 27-358 Occupant load.
AC § 27-358
The number of occupants for whom exit facilities shall be provided shall be established either (1) by the actual number of occupants for whom each occupied space, floor, or building, as the case may be, is designed, or (2) by using the appropriate occupant-area ratios from table 6-2, whichever is larger. The occupant load of any space shall include the occupant load of all spaces that discharge through it in order to gain access to an exit. TABLE 6-2Occupant Load Requirements Net Area Table OccupancyNet Floor Area per Occupant (sq. ft.)Billiard rooms 50 Bowling alleys 50 Classrooms 20 Dance floors 10 Dining spaces (nonresidential) 12 Exhibition spaces 10Garages and open parking structures 250 Gymnasiums 15Habitable rooms 140 Industrial shops 200 In schools 30 Institutional sleeping rooms Adults75 Children (except as listed below) 50 Day Care a. under 6 mos. 50b. 6 mos. 2 yrs. 40c. 2 yrs. 6 yrs. 30 Institutional staff, all 30 Kindergartens 35 Kitchens (nonresidential) 200Laboratories 50Preparation rooms 100 Libraries 25Locker rooms 12Offices 100Passenger terminals or platforms 1.5xCSales areas (retail) 1st floor or basement 25 All other floors 50 Seating areas (audience) in all places of assembly Fixed seats DMoveable seats 10 Skating rinks 15 Stages (See subchapter eight) Standing room (audience) in all places of assembly 4Storage rooms 200 Notes:C – capacity of all passenger vehicles that can be unloaded simultaneously.D – designed number of seats or occupants.
(a)Unlisted occupancies. Where data regarding the sq. ft. per person for an occupancy is not listed in table 6-2, the occupant load shall be established by an architect or engineer, subject to the approval of the commissioner.
(b)Modifications.
(1)When the actual occupant load of any space will be significantly lower than that listed in table 6-2, the commissioner may establish a lower basis for the determination of the occupant load.
(2)When a building existing on December sixth, nineteen hundred sixty-eight is altered or changed in occupancy or use so as to require enlarged exit facilities, the commissioner may authorize the alteration or change in occupancy or use without an enlargement of exit facilities, provided the occupant load is limited to that accommodated by the existing exit facilities as determined by the provisions of this code, and the building or space is posted accordingly with a sign. Such signs shall be at least twelve inches in width and sixteen inches in height. The lettering shall be red on a white background. The letters shall be not less than one inch high and the numerals not less than one and one-quarter inches high.
(c)Nonsimultaneous occupancy. The occupant load of toilets, locker rooms, meeting rooms, storage rooms, employee cafeterias, and similar rooms or spaces that are not occupied at the same time as other rooms or spaces on the same floor of a building, may be omitted from the occupant load calculation of the floor on which they are located to the extent that such spaces serve occupied rooms on the same floor.
