Shedding light on building code amendments.

Safety for office workers who occupy in the commercial high-rises of New York City is a key issue that has led the NYC Council to amend existing building code laws.

The New York City Council, working in conjunction with Department of Buildings, has amended Local Law 26 of 2004 'LEGISLATION TO IMPROVE BUILDING SAFETY.'

This recently enacted legislation is part of an initiative to improve safety in the wake of the 9/11 tragedies and summer blackout of August 14, 2003.

Following the World Trade Center attack, a World Trade Center Task Force was formed and made recommendations that influenced the new building code amendments.

The WTC had installed Photoluminescent (glow-in-the-dark) safety markings following the February 26, 1993 bombing in the parking garage.

The continuous photoluminescent (PL) markings provide an emergency evacuation pathway guidance system and 9/11 survivors reported seeing and following the PL stripes on the stairs, railings and stairwell doors as they made their escape.

Effective July 1, 2006 all commercial buildings (occupancy group E--high rise) will be required to have exit path markings conforming to a newly formed Reference Standard 6-1. All existing commercial high-rise buildings must complete this retrofit work by July 1, 2006 and file affidavits with the DOB by the same date.

A copy of the Reference Standard can be viewed at the Department of Buildings website: http:// www.nyc.gov/html/dob/html/ whatsnew.html#draft

The new laws present numerous challenges to commercial high-rise building owners and managers. There are numerous considerations to be made before purchasing and installing photoluminescent materials.

Class E Commercial high-rise building owners will have to install low level emergency evacuation way-finding markings on doors leading to emergency stairs, on stairwell walls and handrails; they are required to mark stair steps, mark paths around potential hazards, and obstructions (i.e. stand pipes); and install directional signage where the direction of exit is not clear.

What is your stair well's existing lighting? Present building codes call for a minimum of 2-foot candles as the minimum lighting level measured on the floor in exit stairs. Most buildings provide more. However photoluminescent materials will not charge adequately using incandescent light sources. Florescent lighting is best to properly charge PL markings. Another consideration relates to buildings using motion sensor activating light switches that turn lights on when someone enters a stairwell. These have proliferated as an energy savings device. Motion sensors can no longer be used, as they will prevent the continuous ambient light needed to charge the PL.