Panchayat:Repo18/Law Manual Page0817

Rule 112THE KERALA PANCHAYAT BUILDINGS RULES, 2011817

107. Staircase.- (1) Every high-rise building shall have at least two staircases.

(2) The height of the handrail in the staircase shall not be less than 90 centimetres and if balusters are provided, no gap in the balusters shall be more than 10 centimetres wide.

108. Guard rails or parapets.- Every slab or balcony overlooking any exterior or interior open space which are 2 metres or more above ground level shall be provided with parapet walls or guard rails of height not less than 1.20 metres and such guard rails shall be firmly fixed to the walls and slabs and shall be of blank walls, metal grills or a combination of both:

Provided that if metal grills are used they shall not be made of continuous horizontal members to prevent climbing on them:

Provided further that guard rails shall not be made of glass or any similar material which are not reinforced to prevent breaking.

109. Fire escape stairway.- (1) Every high rise building shall be provided with a fire escape stairway.

(2) Fire escape stairway shall be directly connected with easily accessible common areas on all floors and shall lead directly to the ground.

(3) At least one side of the stairway shall be an external wall either with large openings or with break open glass to facilitate rescue operation during emergency.

(4) External fire escape staircase shall have straight flight not less than 75 centimetres wide with 20 centimetres treads and risers not more than 19cm. The number of risers shall be limited to 16 per flight.

(5) Hand rails shall be of height not less than 100 centimetres and not exceeding 120 centimetres.

(6) The use of spiral staircase as external fire escape stairway shall be limited building not exceeding 10 metres in height.

(7) A spiral fire escape stairway shall not be less than 150 cm in diameter and shall be designed to give adequate head room.

110. Ducts.- Every opening provided to ducts from the interior of a building shall be closed with materials of suitable strength.

111. Access. The width of access to a high rise building and plot as well as the width of street giving access to the plot from the main street shall be 4[5 metres ] or as prescribed elsewhere in these rules, whichever is greater.

112. Open spaces.- 5[(1) A clear motorable open space of minimum 5 metres width shall be provided for the building at the front side as well as at anyone of its sides contiguous to the road abutting it, so as to facilitate fire fighting, which shall be kept free of vehicle parking or any other erections or projections thereon, other than projections of roof or weather shade or cornices of not more than 75 centimetres width].

(2) [xxx]