Part D1 Access and egress

The Objective of this Section is to—

1. provide, as far as is reasonable, people with safe, equitable and dignified access to—
   1. a building; and
   2. the services and facilities within a building; and
2. safeguard occupants from illness or injury while evacuating in an emergency.

A building is to provide, as far as is reasonable—

1. safe; and
2. equitable and dignified,

access for people to the services and facilities within.

A building is to be provided with means of evacuation which allow occupants time to evacuate safely without being overcome by the effects of an emergency.

Access must be provided, to the degree necessary, to enable—

1. people to—
   1. approach the building from the road boundary and from any accessible carparking spaces associated with the building; and
   2. approach the building from any accessible associated building; and
   3. access work and public spaces, accommodation and facilities for personal hygiene; and
2. identification of accessways at appropriate locations which are easy to find.

So that people can move safely to and within a building, it must have—

1. walking surfaces with safe gradients; and
2. any doors installed to avoid the risk of occupants—
   1. having their egress impeded; or
   2. being trapped in the building; and
3. any stairways and ramps with—
   1. slip-resistant walking surfaces on—
      1. ramps; and
      2. stairway treads or near the edge of the nosing; and
   2. suitable handrails where necessary to assist and provide stability to people using the stairway or ramp; and
   3. suitable landings to avoid undue fatigue; and
   4. landings where a door opens from or onto the stairway or ramp so that the door does not create an obstruction; and
   5. in the case of a stairway, suitable safe passage in relation to the nature, volume and frequency of likely usage.

(1) A barrier must be provided where people could fall—

1. 1 m or more—
   1. from a floor or roof or through an opening (other than through an openable window) in the external wall of a building; or
   2. due to a sudden change of level within or associated with a building; or
2. 2 m or more from a floor through an openable window—
   1. in a bedroom in a Class 2 or 3 building or a Class 4 part of a building; or
   2. in a Class 9b early childhood centre; or
3. 4 m or more from a floor through an openable window not covered by (b).

(2) A barrier required by (1) must be—

1. continuous and extend for the full extent of the hazard; and
2. of a height to protect people from accidentally falling from the floor or roof or through the opening or openable window; and
3. constructed to prevent people from falling through the barrier; and
4. capable of restricting the passage of children; and
5. of strength and rigidity to withstand—
   1. the foreseeable impact of people; and
   2. where appropriate, the static pressure of people pressing against it.

Exits must be provided from a building to allow occupants to evacuate safely, with their number, location and dimensions being appropriate to—

1. the travel distance; and
2. the number, mobility and other characteristics of occupants; and
3. the function or use of the building; and
4. the height of the building; and
5. whether the exit is from above or below ground level.

To protect evacuating occupants from a fire in the building exits must be fire-isolated, to the degree necessary, appropriate to—

1. the number of storeys connected by the exits; and
2. the fire safety system installed in the building; and
3. the function or use of the building; and
4. the number of storeys passed through by the exits; and
5. fire brigade intervention.

So that occupants can safely evacuate the building, paths of travel to exits must have dimensions appropriate to—

1. the number, mobility and other characteristics of occupants; and
2. the function or use of the building.

Where a lift is intended to be used in addition to the required exits to assist occupants to evacuate a building safely, the type, number, location and fire-isolation must be appropriate to—

1. the travel distance to the lift; and
2. the number, mobility and other characteristics of occupants; and
3. the function or use of the building; and
4. the number of storeys connected by the lift; and
5. the fire safety system installed in the building; and
6. the waiting time, travel time and capacity of the lift; and
7. the reliability and availability of the lift; and
8. the emergency procedures for the building.

Carparking spaces for use by people with a disability must be—

1. provided, to the degree necessary, to give equitable access for carparking; and
2. designated and easy to find.

An inbuilt communication system for entry, information, entertainment, or for the provision of a service, must be suitable for occupants who are deaf or hearing impaired.

Compliance with D1P3(2)(c) and (d) for wire barriers is verified when the wire barrier passes the test described below:

1. Application — the test must be carried out on either—
   1. a prototype of a wire barrier that is identical to that proposed to be installed on-site; or
   2. a wire barrier installed on-site.
2. Test equipment — the test equipment must consist of the following:
   1. A horizontally suspended 125 mm diameter, 405 mm long cylinder of 1 mm thick steel having a highly polished 105 mm long cone at one end with a 20 mm diameter flat leading edge to which an eye bolt is fixed.
   2. A sufficiently flexible horizontal cable with mechanisms capable of applying and measuring a tension of 150 N (or a 15.3 kg weight suspended over a low friction pulley) is to be attached to the eye bolt (see Figure D1V1).
   3. A mechanism capable of measuring the tension force applied to each wire.
3. Test procedure — the test procedure must be as follows:
   1. Tension the wires, within their safe load, to the same tension in all wires and measure the tensions with a strain indicator.
   2. For—
      1. horizontal or near horizontal wires, position the cone against a pair of wires at the mid-span between supports, then apply the 150 N tension force to the cone; and
      2. vertical wires, position the cone against a pair of wires at the mid-span between supporting rails, then apply the 150 N tension force to the cone; and
      3. near-vertical wires, position the cone against a pair of wires at the widest opening between the wires, then apply the 150 N tension force to the cone.
   3. Attempt to pull the cone through the gap between the wires under the 150 N load, and—
      1. increase the tension in the wires and repeat (ii) until such time as the cone will not pull through; or
      2. if it does not pull through, reduce the tension in the wires and repeat step (ii); and
   4. When the cone is just prevented from pulling through the gap, the wires are at the correct tension in which case the cone is withdrawn and the tension recorded.
   5. Reduce the tension in the wires and repeat steps (ii) to (iv) twice more, recording the tension in each case after the cone has been removed and then calculate the average of the three tensions as the required tension for each wire.
   6. For prototype tests of horizontal or near horizontal wires, record the deflection of each wire at the average tension calculated in accordance with (v) when a 2 kg mass is hung at mid-span between supports.
4. Test report — the test report must include the following information:
   1. The name and address of the person supervising the test.
   2. The test report number.
   3. The date of the test.
   4. The wire manufacturer’s name and address, and specifications of the wires used in the test including the safe load limit of the wires.
   5. The construction details of the test specimen, including a description and drawings and details of the components including supports, post or railing spacings and wire spacings.
   6. For a prototype test, the required tension calculated in accordance with (c)(v).
   7. For prototype tests of horizontal or near horizontal wires, the deflection measured in accordance with (c)(vi).

Compliance with D1P1, D1P2, D1P6, E3P4 and/or F4P1, for access, is verified when it is determined that the proposed building provides an equivalent level of access as a reference building when using the following process:

1. A performance-based design brief is completed to define the following:
   1. The occupant profile and characteristics based on the type and use of the building.
   2. The appropriate method for determining the level of access.
   3. The appropriate modelling method and tool.
   4. The measurable acceptance criteria.
2. Using the appropriate method, the level of access required is determined by first modelling a reference building using the relevant Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions of Sections D, E and F and the occupant profile and characteristics to determine the—
   1. needs of the occupants that the reference building addresses; and
   2. facilities required to be accessed by each occupant profile; and
   3. baseline measurable acceptance criteria.
3. The proposed building and access solution must be modelled using a modelling method and approach consistent with that used for the reference building, and the same critical features including the following:
   1. Occupant profile and characteristics.
   2. Building location and orientation.
   3. Locations of all entrances and exits.
   4. Locations of facilities important to the solution, including sanitary facilities, lifts, stairwells, etc.
   5. The number and range of facilities.
4. The proposed solution’s level of access is assessed by modelling occupant performance using characteristics, whereby the proposed building provides for equivalent access appropriate to the needs of each occupant profile.

(1) Compliance with Performance Requirement D1P2, relating to gradient, crossfall, surface profile and slip resistance of a ramp for the use of wheelchairs is verified when—

1. the ramp has a gradient that is not steeper than 1:8; and
2. the pushing force required to accelerate a wheelchair and user during ascent is in accordance with (2); and
3. the required braking force for a wheelchair and user during descent is in accordance with (3); and
4. the projected ascent time is in accordance with (4); and
5. the ramp crossfall, surface profile and slip resistance is in accordance with (5).

(2) The pushing force during ascent must be in accordance with the formula:

where—

(3) The braking force during descent must be less than 9 N when calculated in accordance with the formula:

where—

(4) The time taken to ascend the ramp must be less than 17 s when calculated in accordance with the formula:

where—

(5) The crossfall must be no steeper than, the surface profile must be no rougher than, and the slip resistance must be no less than, the values nominated in Table D1V3 for the gradient of the ramp.

Compliance with D1P4, D1P5, D1P6 and D1P7 is verified when a building is designed in accordance with C1V4.