If the means of egress bothers you, look no further than your state’s fire code for a beefed-up standard on egress. OSHA standards are outdated and only intended to establish a “floor” that every employer has to work above. Even OSHA will tell you that complying with their standards will NOT help a business achieve world-class safety. Yet, the majority of businesses seek to comply with OSHA standards as their means to achieve a safe workplace. The facility’s means of egress is a MITIGATION layer of protection, but it is critically important. So I have always turned to the International Fire Code (IFC) as my standard for “means of egress” rather than OSHA’s 20-year-old standards, 1910.36 and 1910.37. Most states have adopted some edition of the IFC, so it could be a “compliance requirement” for many facilities; versus adopting NFPA standards for your egress standards. Take, for example, lighting for egress paths. OSHA says the path must be illuminated but does not define or quantify this in the standard. The standard simply states…
1910.37(b)(1) Each exit route must be adequately lighted so that an employee with normal vision can see along the exit route.
I hate when words like “adequately” are used in safety standards, as that word can mean many different things to many different folks. What one person says is “adequate” to them may be far from “adequate” for someone else. I much prefer how the IFC defines and quantifies this illumination requirement…