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Is it legal in California to...

Depends on the setting. If in an establishment that falls under OSHA regulations there would be an issue I presume.
 
minendo said:
Depends on the setting. If in an establishment that falls under OSHA regulations there would be an issue I presume.
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I'd think it wouldn't be legal in any business. If there was a fire, people could go to the wrong "exit". In a home it could go either way. While it might be technically illegal, who would say anything?
 
Howard said:
install, or leave in place, an exit sign where there is no exit?
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On the highway, it likely falls under the Health and Safety code. I would believe it is illegal. It would certainly be removed.

In a building it would violate the fire code (which may be in Health and Safety).
 
Some of the businesses I serve during my route have exits blocked off, and there is large printing advising as such on those doors. I assume this is to keep the Fire Dept from trying to open an exterior door that has been covered by a wall on the inside.
 
oldsmoboat said:
In a building it would violate the fire code (which may be in Health and Safety).
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That's what I thought, but I'm having trouble finding a section in the regulations which explicitly forbids showing an exit sign above an area or passageway that is not an exit.
 
Howard said:
That's what I thought, but I'm having trouble finding a section in the regulations which explicitly forbids showing an exit sign above an area or passageway that is not an exit.
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I may have it bookmarked at work. I can assure you, it's not kosher and if you were inspected, you'd be told to remove it. If anyone was injured that tried to use it as an exit (say in a fire), you'd be liable.
Depending on how the exit is signed, you may be able to append the the sign with "Not An". It would be better to just sign it "Not An Exit".

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html

EDIT

BTW, the law may be specific to the number of people in the room.
 
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A general rule of thumb for California is if you have to ask if something is illegal than the answer is 'no'.
 
Howard said:
That's what I thought, but I'm having trouble finding a section in the regulations which explicitly forbids showing an exit sign above an area or passageway that is not an exit.
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i would imagine it IS in the code, but even if its not it can still be enforced by the inspector. the inspector has final say in everything. if he/she wants it, thats what is going to happen.
 
If they have adopted the NFPA life safety codes, yes it is illegal. Most local jurisdictions adopt the code as released, some add additional requirements though. ( I just looked and 43 states use NFPA 101 statewide, the others use it to a lesser extent I don't know about Cali specifically)

The phrasing is something along the lines of keeping exits and their pathways unobstructed. (Side question: Does the sign exist on a pathway to an exit? In other words there are some signs that lead you to an exit, but the doors the are in front of don't themselves exit to the exterior)

The next question is if the exit in question would be a required exit. This depends on the classification of occupancy, number of allowed persons, travel distances to other exits, etc. If it is not required they could simply remove the exit sign.

Most buildings I am familiar with are done to the minimum code requirements at the time of construction. Business usually don't put in extra exits, due to the costs. However, some may have redundant exits for convenience/aesthetic reasons.

If the exit is required by code, and it does not function as intended there are consequences. Where I work a repair order would be issued. If they did not comply within a reasonable timeline, civil fines would be placed. They start off small but I believe they ramp to $1000/per day/violation. So a business with 12 violations could be facing up to $12k per day until fixed. This is rare, and is usually for willful violations that are not making any effort to comply. The whole intent is to make it cheaper to comply, than simply pay the fines and ignore it.

Additionally, if there were an injury or death there could be civil liability and/or criminal charges against the responsible parties.

None of the above is an official opinion and/or legal advice. It is simply the best of my practical understanding of how it is applied where I am.

You could go with the email address Olds listed, or find out who your local Authority Having Jurisdiction is. Most will allow anonymous reporting of concerns, and will investigate.

Remember most of the elements of the life safety codes are lessons learned from multiple fatality fires. They are efforts to reduce loss of life in future fires.

Many are familiar with the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_nightclub_fire, but there are many, many more were blocked exits contributed to massive loss of life.

Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_E2_nightclub_stampede where the was no fire, but 23 people died in a stampede trying to get away from a fight and pepper spray. They had blocked exits there as well.
 
Why would you need to prove this???


Seriously... commercial/retail type building and there's a fire - people will get trapped, they will sue you and win.

It's illegal in my state, but even if it's NOT illegal you'd lose any lawsuit related to someone incurring damages due to a misplaced exit sign.
 
Who the hell are you? Wile E. Coyote?? Are you going to paint an exit on a brick wall and hope roadrunner runs right into it?
 
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