{"id":78005,"date":"2018-12-27T12:59:22","date_gmt":"2018-12-27T17:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionspecifier.com\/?p=78005"},"modified":"2018-12-28T09:28:43","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T14:28:43","slug":"evolving-elevator-hoistway-codes-and-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionspecifier.com\/evolving-elevator-hoistway-codes-and-standards\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolving elevator hoistway codes and standards"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photos<\/a>
Photos \u00a9 BigStockPhoto.com<\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

by David Dawdy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fire and life safety is a major concern for high-rise office workers, apartment and condominium dwellers, building owners, and the architectural community around the world. From decades of disaster movies to real-life stories from survivors of tower fires and terrorist attacks, the threat of catastrophe is a sobering reminder fighting high-rise structure fires is a difficult and often perilous task. Recent tragedies like Grenfell Tower in London, England, the 2017 Honolulu high-rise fire and the Torch Tower in Dubai, UAE, punctuate this reality.<\/p>\n

While the spread of fire and flames is commonly perceived to be the biggest threat to human safety in these types of situations, smoke and toxic gas often pose an even greater danger for building occupants. High-rise structures typically include multiple stairways and internal elevator shafts. These enclosures and hoistways can act like a chimney or flue in a fire, allowing smoke to infiltrate otherwise safe floors of commercial and residential buildings.<\/p>\n

Despite being protected by fire-rated, car-mounted doors, hoistway shaft openings are especially dangerous, allowing hot smoke and products of combustion to infiltrate the area and potentially spreading gases throughout a multifloor building in a matter of minutes. The ability of smoke and hot gases to migrate quickly through unobstructed vertical shafts can result in smoke inhalation and death for those trapped on seemingly untouched or \u2018safe\u2019 floors above the fire.<\/p>\n

To address smoke migration, the International Building Code<\/em> (IBC<\/em>)\u2014beginning in 2000\u2014required elevator lobbies to be constructed as smoke enclosures to encapsulate hoistway openings on every floor of a high-rise building. Swinging doors\u2014at the entrance to an elevator lobby\u2014are activated during a fire event to close and seal the space, thereby minimizing smoke and gas infiltration. Elevator lobbies have made a tremendous impact on occupant safety, but they also come with significant design and facility planning drawbacks.<\/p>\n

IBC<\/em> eventually approved the use of coiling fabric or film closures for hoistway openings meeting Underwriters Laboratories (UL) 1784, Smoke and Draft Control Door Assemblies,<\/em> requirements in 2003. Manufacturers also began to develop new and exciting alternatives to elevator lobbies at the hoistway opening.<\/p>\n

The use of special coiling smoke doors as hoistway enclosures has quietly become mainstream in the design community. Standards from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) continue to evolve to include new opportunities with regard to smoke and fire infiltration in commercial buildings.<\/p>\n

Whether discussing traditional elevator lobbies or newer products, it is important to understand these developing standards of elevator smoke enclosures and their impact on architects, designers, facility managers, and, ultimately, building occupants.<\/p>\n

\"Thanks<\/a>
Thanks to advances in coiling fabric and film closures for hoistway openings, architects have new opportunities for designing open-concept spaces.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Option for the design community<\/strong><\/p>\n

IBC<\/em> 2015, Section 3006.2, \u201cHoistway Opening Protection Required,\u201d states:<\/p>\n

Elevator hoistway door openings shall be protected in accordance with Section 3006.3, where an elevator hoistway connects more than three stories, is required to be enclosed within a shaft enclosure…<\/span><\/p>\n

Hoistway closures are seen by the overhead door community as specialty products surrounded by a significant degree of mystery, misinformation, and misunderstanding. There are a number of reasons for this, including:<\/p>\n