Texas Administrative Code › Title 26 - HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › Part 1 - HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION › Chapter 554 - NURSING FACILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR LICENSURE AND MEDICAID CERTIFICATION › Subchapter D - FACILITY CONSTRUCTION › Division 5 - FACILITIES LICENSED ON OR AFTER SEPTEMBER 11, 2003 AND BEFORE APRIL 2, 2018 › Section 554.335 - Exit Provisions

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
Exit provisions, including doors, corridors, stairways,
						and other exit-ways, locks, and other applicable items must conform to the
						requirements of NFPA 101 concerning means of egress and of this section in
						order to ensure that residents can be rapidly and easily evacuated from the
						building at all times, or from one part of the building to a safe area of
						refuge in another part of the building. Exit provisions are as follows:
(1) Bedroom space arrangement and doors and
					 corridors must be designed for evacuation of bedfast residents by means of
					 rolling the bed to a safe place in the building or to the outside.
(2) Public assembly, common living rooms,
					 dining rooms, and other rooms with a capacity of 50 or more persons or greater
					 than 1,000 square feet must have two means of exit remote from each other.
					 Out-swinging doors with panic hardware must be provided for these
					 exits.
(3) Exit doors and ways of
					 egress must be maintained clear and free for use at all times, except as
					 permitted by NPFA 101. Furnishings, equipment, carts, and other obstacles must
					 not be left to block egress at any time.
(4) Steps in interior ways of egress are
					 prohibited. If changes of elevation are necessary within ways of egress,
					 approved ramps with maximum slope of one unit of rise to 12 units of run must
					 be used.
(5) Doors in means of
					 egress must be as follows:
(A) Locking
					 hardware or devices which are capable of preventing or inhibiting immediate
					 egress must not be used in any room or area that can be occupied.
(B) A latch or other fastening device on an
					 exit door must be provided with a knob, handle, panic bar, or similar releasing
					 device. The method of operation must be obvious in the dark, without use of a
					 key, and operable by a well known one-action operation that will easily operate
					 with normal pressure applied to the door or to the device toward the exterior.
					 Locking hardware which prevents unauthorized entry from the outside is
					 permissible. Self-closing devices and permanently mounted hold-open devices to
					 expedite emergency egress and prevent accidental lock-out must be provided for
					 exterior exit doors.
(C) No screen
					 or storm door may swing against the direction of exit travel where main doors
					 are required to swing out.
(D) To
					 aid in control of wandering residents, buzzers or other sounding devices may be
					 used to announce the unauthorized use of an exit door. Other methods include
					 approved emergency exit door locks or fencing with a gate outside of exit doors
					 which enclose a space large enough to allow the space to be an exterior area of
					 egress and refuge away from the building.
(E) Inactive leaves of double doors may have
					 easily accessible and easily operable bolts if the active leaf is 44 inches
					 wide, where permitted by NFPA 101. Center mullions are prohibited.
(F) Resident baths or toilets having privacy
					 locks will require that keys or devices for opening the doors are kept readily
					 available to the staff.
(G) Folding
					 doors must not be used in exit corridors or exit-ways. Sliding doors, where
					 permitted by NFPA 101, may be used as secondary doors from residents' bedrooms
					 to grade or to a balcony, or in certain other areas, where permitted by NFPA
					 101. Corridor doors to rooms must swing into the room or be recessed so as not
					 to extend into the corridor when open; however, doors ordinarily kept closed
					 may be excepted.