Fire escape stairs — external steel escape stairs, landings and cage ladders fabricated to EN 1090
A fire escape is a stair that must be there, complete and safe, on the day the building opens — and that then stands outside for forty years. We fabricate external escape stairs from our own stock: stringers from UPN and folded plate, treads from serrated grating or checkered plate, landings on hollow-section columns, handrails from our galvanized tube, cage ladders and roof-access ladders — engineered to EN ISO 14122 or the local building code, welded to EN 1090 EXC2, hot-dip galvanized and shipped as bolted kits with the anchors and drawings, for hotels, hospitals, schools, factories and camps from Iraq to Nigeria.
Standards and design
Escape stairs are designed to the building code that applies — EN ISO 14122-3 and EN 1090-2 EXC2 for industrial buildings, national fire codes (Turkish Fire Regulation, NFPA 101, Saudi and UAE fire codes, Iraqi and Nigerian codes derived from BS 9999) for public buildings — with the geometry those codes fix: clear width 900–1 200 mm (1 200 for public buildings), riser 150–180 mm, going 250–300 mm, maximum 16 risers per flight, landings at every floor and turn, handrails at 900–1 000 mm on both sides with intermediate rails or infill so that a 100 mm sphere cannot pass, and a guarding height of 1 100 mm on landings. Live load 3–5 kN/m² (5 kN/m² for public escape routes) with a 1.5 kN concentrated load on treads. Our drawing office takes the floor levels, exit-door positions and the façade and returns the general arrangement, the column and anchor loads for the building engineer, and the shop drawings.
Stair types we fabricate
| Type | Where it fits | Footprint | Typical floors | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straight flight with landings | along a façade, single storey or mezzanine | 1.2 × 6–9 m per storey | 1–2 | simplest; open-riser grating |
| Dog-leg (two flights per floor, half landing) | the standard multi-storey escape stair | 2.6–3.0 × 5–6 m | 2–10 | compact, code-preferred; tower on 4 columns |
| Scissor / double dog-leg | two independent escape routes in one tower | 3.0 × 6 m | 4–12 | hospitals, hotels |
| Spiral / helical | tight sites, single escape from mezzanines | Ø 1.8–2.5 m | 1–3 | accepted by most codes only for limited occupancy |
| Stair tower with enclosure | where the code requires protection from the façade | 3.0 × 6 m + cladding | 2–10 | clad in trapezoidal sheet or grating screens |
| Cage ladder with rest platforms | roof access, plant, silos, tanks | 0.7 × 1.0 m | to 20 m | EN ISO 14122-4; not an escape route for public buildings |
Components and materials
| Component | Material | Standard | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stringers | UPN 160–260 or folded plate 8–10 mm | S235JR / S355J2 | bolted at landings |
| Treads | serrated press-welded grating 30 × 3 or 30 × 5 with nosing; checkered plate 4/5 mm folded treads | our grating / our checkered plate | grating for external stairs (no ice, self-draining) |
| Landings | grating panels or checkered plate on UPN / hollow-section frames | EN ISO 14122-2 | toe plate 100 mm |
| Columns and bracing | hollow section 100 × 100 – 200 × 200, angles | S235JRH / S355J2H | base plates with 4 × M16–M24 anchors |
| Handrails and guarding | Ø 42.4 × 2.6 tube posts and rails, infill rails or mesh | our galvanized pipe | ball-joint or welded; 1 100 mm on landings |
| Wall and door connections | brackets, fire-door frames, threshold plates | to the building | coordinated with the exit doors |
| Finish | hot-dip galvanized EN ISO 1461 (70–85 µm); duplex powder coat in RAL on request | galvanized standard; painted for architectural stairs | |
| Fixings | M12–M24 8.8 galvanized bolts, chemical anchors, grating clips | packed per floor |
Fabrication, packing and installation
Flights are welded complete (stringers + treads + rail posts) in the shop to EN 1090-2 EXC2 with weld inspection, landings and column frames as bolted sub-assemblies, everything hot-dip galvanized after fabrication and match-marked; a four-storey dog-leg stair packs into one 40' open-top or HC container as 8 flights, 8 landings, 4 column sets and the rail bundles, with anchors, bolts and erection drawings in the first crate. Erection is by crane and bolting from the ground up — a crew of four erects one floor per day — and we can send a supervisor for the first floors. Roof-access and cage ladders ship in 3–6 m sections.
Typical projects
- Hotels, hospitals, schools and office buildings needing a second means of escape
- Factories, warehouses and mezzanines (EN ISO 14122 industrial stairs)
- Site camps, prefabricated and container buildings (bolt-on stairs)
- Residential blocks in retrofit programmes (external escape towers)
- Roof access and plant-room stairs with cage ladders
- Stadium, car-park and terminal access stairs
Pricing and lead time
Escape stairs are quoted per storey from the floor heights and width: a galvanized dog-leg flight-pair with half landing, grating treads and handrails typically 4 000–7 000 USD per 3.5 m storey ex works, plus columns and landings per set, cage ladders per metre; spiral stairs and clad towers per drawing. Lead time 4–8 weeks including galvanizing; drawings for building-engineer approval within one week of the enquiry.
Frequently asked questions
Which code do you design fire escape stairs to?
EN ISO 14122 and EN 1090-2 EXC2 for industrial buildings, and the national fire code of the site (Turkish Fire Regulation, NFPA 101, Saudi / UAE fire codes, BS 9999-based codes) for public buildings — width, riser, landing and guarding rules follow the code you name.
Are the stairs delivered assembled?
As welded flights and bolted landings and columns, galvanized and match-marked, one container per 3–4 storeys, with anchors, bolts and erection drawings; erection is by bolting, about one floor per day.
Grating or checkered plate treads?
Serrated grating for external stairs — self-draining, no ice, non-slip; checkered-plate folded treads where a closed tread is required or for internal stairs.
Can you provide the loads for the building engineer?
Yes — the general arrangement with column reactions and anchor forces is issued within a week for the building engineer's approval before fabrication.
What finish do the stairs have?
Hot-dip galvanized to EN ISO 1461 as standard (70–85 µm, 25–40 years outdoors); duplex powder coating in any RAL for architectural stairs.