PRINTER'S NO. 812
No. 728 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY ARMSTRONG, ALLEN, BARRAR, BENNINGHOFF,
CALTAGIRONE, CLYMER, COLAFELLA, CREIGHTON, DeWEESE, EGOLF,
FICHTER, FLICK, GODSHALL, HARHAI, HENNESSEY, HERSHEY, HORSEY,
LAUGHLIN, LUCYK, LYNCH, McCALL, MELIO, METCALFE, NAILOR,
ORIE, PETRONE, SAYLOR, SCHULER, SHANER, B. SMITH, SOLOBAY,
STEELMAN, STRITTMATTER, STURLA, THOMAS, WILT, WOGAN,
YOUNGBLOOD, ZIMMERMAN, ZUG, JAMES AND COLEMAN,
FEBRUARY 14, 2001
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FEBRUARY 14, 2001
AN ACT
1 Providing for bed and breakfast establishment safety
2 regulations.
3 TABLE OF CONTENTS
4 Section 1. Short title.
5 Section 2. Definitions.
6 Section 3. Conversion requirements.
7 Section 4. Accessibility requirement.
8 Section 5. Smoke detector requirement.
9 Section 6. Window requirement.
10 Section 7. Corridor requirement.
11 Section 8. Emergency lighting requirement.
12 Section 9. Door requirement.
13 Section 10. Handrail and guardrail requirement.
14 Section 11. Transom requirement.
15 Section 12. Stairway requirement.
1 Section 13. Separation and mixed occupancy requirement.
2 Section 14. Hazard requirement.
3 Section 15. Travel distance to exit requirement.
4 Section 16. Ramp requirement.
5 Section 17. Fire extinguisher requirement.
6 Section 18. Carbon monoxide requirement.
7 Section 19. Certificate of occupancy.
8 Section 20. Applicability.
9 Section 21. Effective date.
10 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
11 hereby enacts as follows:
12 Section 1. Short title.
13 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Bed and
14 Breakfast Establishment Safety Act.
15 Section 2. Definitions.
16 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
17 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
18 context clearly indicates otherwise:
19 "Bed and breakfast homestead or inn." A private residence
20 which accommodates 7 to 16 guests and is used for providing
21 overnight accommodations to the public and in which breakfast is
22 the only meal served and is included in the charge for the room.
23 "Division D-H hazardous occupancy." An occupancy involving
24 highly combustible, explosive or unstable products or materials
25 that constitute a special fire, life or toxic hazard because of
26 the forms, characteristics or volume of the materials used.
27 "Historic property." A property listed or determined
28 eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic
29 Places.
30 "NFPA 70." An ANSI accredited document, which, as such, may
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1 be updated periodically for the construction and subsequent
2 inspection of electrical facilities and equipment and known as
3 the National Electric Code.
4 "Required window size." A window having a minimum size of
5 4.5 square feet with neither dimension smaller than 20 inches.
6 Section 3. Conversion requirements.
7 A private residence being utilized for a bed and breakfast
8 homestead or inn shall comply with requirements set forth in
9 this act.
10 Section 4. Accessibility requirement.
11 Except as otherwise provided in this section, every story of
12 a bed and breakfast homestead or inn utilized for guest
13 occupancy shall be provided with a minimum of two exits and
14 shall comply with the following:
15 (1) A fire escape shall be accepted as providing one of
16 the required means of egress if it can safely be used under
17 emergency exiting conditions. All occupants shall have
18 unobstructed access to the fire escape without having to pass
19 through a room subject to locking. Access to a fire escape
20 shall be through a door, except that window access shall be
21 permitted from guest rooms.
22 (2) In buildings having a single exit, no additional
23 exit shall be required if the following conditions are met:
24 (i) at all locations in the story at the level of
25 discharge, the exit access travel distance shall not
26 exceed 75 feet;
27 (ii) except as otherwise provided in subparagraph
28 (iii), no part of the building open to guests shall be on
29 a floor that is more than 16 feet above exterior grade;
30 or
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1 (iii) in buildings where guests do not have access
2 to rooms above the second story from floors that are more
3 than 16 feet above grade, where there are not more than
4 four guest rooms per floor and the exit access travel
5 distance does not exceed 50 feet, the exit shall be
6 enclosed with construction and opening protection
7 providing a one-hour fire-resistance rating.
8 (3) In bed and breakfast establishments having guest
9 rooms on the third floor the stairway requirements of section
10 12 apply.
11 (4) In a building not meeting the requirements of
12 section 12(1), (2) or (3), a second floor corridor exceeding
13 eight feet in length requires a one-hour barrier protecting
14 only one staircase if the following conditions are met:
15 (i) each sleeping room has a window meeting the
16 minimum size requirements defined in section 2 and having
17 a sill height not more than 44 inches;
18 (ii) no second floor sleeping room is more than 16
19 feet above grade; or
20 (iii) any second floor sleeping room more than 16
21 feet above grade has direct access to a fire escape or
22 other approved secondary exit.
23 Section 5. Smoke detector requirement.
24 AC-powered interconnected smoke detectors with battery back-
25 up shall be installed in a bed and breakfast homestead or inn
26 and shall be in accordance with the building subcode in the
27 locations listed in this section. Fixed temperature or rate-of-
28 rise and fixed temperature heat detectors may be substituted for
29 smoke detectors in those locations where frequent nuisance
30 alarms would be likely to occur. At least one portable visual
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1 alarm-type smoke detector for the deaf or hearing-impaired shall
2 be available. Notification of the availability of such devices
3 shall be provided to each occupant. Installation shall be
4 required:
5 (1) In all guest rooms, AC-powered interconnected smoke
6 detectors with battery back-up or battery powered smoke
7 detectors shall be installed.
8 (2) On each story in common areas.
9 (3) In basements and attics.
10 Section 6. Window requirement.
11 Every sleeping room of a bed and breakfast homestead or inn
12 shall be provided with a window meeting the minimum size
13 requirements defined in section 2 and having a sill height of
14 not more than 44 inches. Such window shall have no obstacles
15 placed in front of or around it that will prevent egress, shall
16 be easily released from the inside, and shall contain no
17 obstructions such as a grille or screen.
18 Section 7. Corridor requirement.
19 Dead-end corridors in a bed and breakfast homestead or inn
20 shall not exceed 35 feet.
21 Section 8. Emergency lighting requirement.
22 (a) Common egress areas.--Emergency egress lighting shall be
23 provided in a bed and breakfast homestead or inn between all
24 guest rooms and emergency egress areas and shall be connected to
25 an emergency electrical system conforming to NFPA 70 to assure
26 continued illumination for a duration of not less than one hour,
27 in case of primary power loss, or this lighting may be self-
28 illuminating, in which case it shall be mounted at or near floor
29 level and shall not require an emergency electrical system.
30 (b) Exit signs.--In all buildings, rooms or spaces required
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1 to have more than one exit or exit access, all required means of
2 egress shall be indicated either with approved self-luminous
3 signs, or with approved internally illuminated signs connected
4 to an emergency electrical system to assure continued
5 illumination for not less than one hour in case of primary power
6 loss. Exit signs shall not be required if the second means of
7 egress is a fire escape or through main exterior doors that are
8 obviously utilized for exits.
9 (c) Guest rooms.--A battery-powered handheld emergency light
10 shall be the minimum allowance available in each guest room.
11 Section 9. Door requirement.
12 Means of egress doors in a bed and breakfast homestead or inn
13 shall comply with the following:
14 (1) All doors opening into an exit stair shall be self-
15 closing or automatic-closing.
16 (2) All guest-room doors shall be at least equivalent to
17 a 15-minute fire rating which may be achieved by various
18 options. Guest room doors shall also be equipped with door
19 latches and shall be reasonably tight-fitting. Replacement
20 doors shall be equivalent to a 20-minute fire rating which
21 may be reached by various options.
22 Section 10. Handrail and guardrail requirement.
23 Existing handrails and guardrails provided for stairways and
24 open-sided floor areas in a bed or breakfast homestead or inn
25 shall be permitted to remain in place, provided they are
26 structurally sound. When handrails or guardrails do not exist in
27 locations where the building code requires them, or where
28 handrails or guardrails are in danger of collapse when used
29 under emergency conditions, handrails and guardrails complying
30 with the building subcode shall be provided.
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1 Section 11. Transom requirement.
2 Transoms in a bed and breakfast homestead or inn shall be
3 either glazed with 1/4-inch wire glass set in metal frames and
4 permanently secured in the closed position and may be provided
5 from the interior of the room. Transoms may also be sealed with
6 materials consistent with the corridor construction.
7 Section 12. Stairway requirement.
8 Interior stairways and other vertical openings connecting
9 more than six floor levels in a bed and breakfast homestead or
10 inn shall be enclosed with approved assemblies having a two-hour
11 fire-resistance rating. Those connecting four to six floor
12 levels shall be enclosed with approved assemblies having a one-
13 hour fire-resistance rating. A minimum one-hour fire barrier
14 shall be provided to protect all interior stairways and other
15 vertical openings not exceeding three stories. Such fire barrier
16 may be omitted provided that:
17 (1) the building is provided throughout with an approved
18 automatic fire suppression system;
19 (2) in buildings where the building is protected
20 throughout by an automatic fire alarm system complying with
21 the building subcode; or
22 (3) the following conditions are met:
23 (i) each sleeping room has an approved window with a
24 sill height of not more than 44 inches;
25 (ii) each sleeping room above the second floor is
26 approved with direct access to a fire escape or other
27 approved secondary exit; or
28 (iii) any exit-access corridor exceeding eight feet
29 in length which serves two means of egress, at least one
30 of which is an unprotected vertical opening, shall be
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1 separated from the vertical opening by a one-hour fire
2 barrier.
3 Section 13. Separation and mixed occupancy requirement.
4 When a bed and breakfast homestead or inn shares a structure
5 with one or more occupancy groups, as defined in 34 Pa. Code §
6 50.1 (relating to occupancy groups), the structure shall be
7 governed in one of the following manners:
8 (1) When each occupancy is separated from other
9 occupancies by fire walls, each portion thus separated shall
10 be considered a separate building, and limitations for
11 separate buildings shall govern.
12 (2) Structures with multiple occupancies which are not
13 separated shall be considered mixed occupancies and shall be
14 governed by the most restrictive of the various limitations
15 of the occupancies.
16 Section 14. Hazard requirement.
17 Division D-H hazardous occupancies shall not be permitted in
18 a bed and breakfast homestead or inn.
19 Section 15. Travel distance to exit requirement.
20 Exits in a bed and breakfast homestead or inn shall be
21 arranged so that the total length of travel from any point to
22 reach an exit shall not exceed 200 feet. Exits shall be so
23 arranged that one exit is not more than 200 feet from another
24 exit.
25 Section 16. Ramp requirement.
26 (a) General rule.--A ramp in a bed and breakfast homestead
27 or inn shall be permitted as a means of egress when it conforms
28 to the following table:
29 Minimum clear width in inches 40 inches
30 Maximum slope 1 inch per foot
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1 (8.33%)
2 Maximum length between landings 30 feet
3 (b) Direction of travel.--Changes in direction of travel
4 shall be made only at landings.
5 (c) Connecting ramps.--Ramps which connect two or more floor
6 levels shall comply with the same door, handrail and enclosure
7 requirements as stair towers.
8 (d) Sloped surfaces.--Sloped surfaces of less than 5% shall
9 not be considered ramps.
10 Section 17. Fire extinguisher requirement.
11 The following conditions shall apply to a bed and breakfast
12 homestead or inn:
13 (1) Fire extinguishers with a minimum 2-A rating shall
14 be provided.
15 (2) There shall be a minimum of one fire extinguisher
16 per floor including basement.
17 (3) Fire extinguishers shall be located so that it shall
18 not be necessary to travel more than 100 feet in any
19 direction to reach the nearest unit.
20 (4) A fire extinguisher with a minimum 10-B rating shall
21 be provided in each kitchen.
22 (5) Where fire extinguishers are installed in a closet
23 or recessed in a wall or obscured from view, there shall be
24 provided adjacent thereto a self-luminous fire extinguisher
25 sign or a constant blue light of not less than 25-watt
26 capacity.
27 Section 18. Carbon monoxide requirement.
28 When a bed and breakfast homestead or inn has a potential
29 danger of carbon monoxide, there shall be one carbon monoxide
30 alarm per floor in a common area.
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1 Section 19. Certificate of occupancy.
2 A bed and breakfast homestead or inn meeting the requirements
3 of this act shall be entitled to a certificate of occupancy for
4 use group R-1. The certificate of occupancy shall be subject to
5 the condition that it be valid for a bed and breakfast homestead
6 or inn use only.
7 Section 20. Applicability.
8 This act shall not apply to bed and breakfast homesteads or
9 inns:
10 (1) For which certification has been obtained from the
11 Department of Labor and Industry or local municipality prior
12 to the effective date of this act.
13 (2) That accommodate fewer than seven or more than 16
14 guests.
15 (3) That are considered to be historic properties as
16 defined in section 2.
17 Section 21. Effective date.
18 This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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