Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 24 - Mental Health › Part 2 - Operational Standards for Mental Health, Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Use Community Service Providers › Chapter 13 - Health and Safety › Rule 24-2-13.3 - Exits

Current through June 25, 2024
A. Diagrams of escape routes must be easy to
				read from a short distance and posted in highly visible locations throughout
				the environment, clearly indicating where a person is located in relation to
				the nearest exit(s). In lieu of posted escape routes, agency providers of
				Supervised Living, Supported Living, Shared Supported Living, and Host Home
				Services, must document training that prepares a person to exit the location in
				the event of an emergency. Training must take place upon admission and at least
				quarterly thereafter. This documentation must be maintained at the service
				location. Every exit shall be clearly visible, or the route to reach every exit
				shall be conspicuously indicated. Each means of egress, in its entirety, shall
				be arranged or marked so that the way to a place of safety is indicated in a
				clear manner. (Exclusion: Supervised Living, Supported Living and Shared
				Supported Living service locations that are not owned or controlled by a
				certified agency provider and Host Homes.)
B. Two (2) means of egress per service area
				must be provided which are readily accessible at all times, remote from each
				other, and so arranged and constructed to minimize any possibility that both
				may be blocked by fire or other emergency condition. (Exclusion: Supported
				Living and Shared Supported Living service locations that are not owned or
				controlled by a certified agency provider, and Host Homes.) A service area is
				defined as the total certified, usable square footage in a building in which a
				specific service is provided. (Exception: Any single room with an area greater
				than six hundred [600] square feet must have at least two [2] means of
				egress.)
C. Exits must be marked by
				a lighted sign with lettering, at a minimum, six (6) inches in height on a
				contrasting background in plain lettering that is readily visible from any
				direction of exit access (Exclusion: Supervised Living, Shared Supported
				Living, Supported Living, and Host Homes). The signs must be lighted at all
				times. The illuminated lights must have battery backup in order to be readily
				visible in the event of electrical failure (facilities with backup generator
				systems are excluded from the battery backup requirement).
D. Any accessible window(s) must be operable
				from the inside without the use of tools and must provide a clear opening of
				not fewer than twenty (20) inches in width and twenty-four (24) inches in
				height (Exclusion: Crisis Residential Units, Shared Supported Living, and
				Supported Living service locations that are not owned or controlled by a
				certified agency provider and Host Homes).
E. No door in any path of exit, or the exit
				door itself, may be locked when the building is occupied unless an emergency
				system is in place that will allow the door to unlock in an emergency
				(Exclusion: Supporting Living, Supervised Living, Shared Supported Living, and
				Host Homes).
F. Exterior doors
				identified/utilized as a means of egress shall not be permitted to have
				key-operated locks from the egress side.
Section
				  41-4-7
				  of the Mississippi Code, 1972, as Amended