Int. No. 295-A
By Council Members Koppell, Barron, Clarke, Gennaro, Gerson, Jackson, Jennings, Nelson, Quinn, Stewart, Yassky, Liu, Recchia, Sears, Vann and The Public Advocate (Ms. Gotbaum)
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to fire safety in places of public assembly.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Section 27-4258 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to read as follows:
§ 27-4258. Exits to be indicated. (a) The owner, lessee, manager, or other person having charge or control of any theatre or place of assembly as defined shall cause each and every door and means of exit, for use in case of fire or panic, to be conspicuously marked by an exit or directional sign, as required by the building code, so as to be clearly visible to the occupants by whom the same may be used. In addition, a diagram or plan of each tier in the auditorium, showing clearly and distinctly all aisles, exits and total number of seats on each tier, shall be posted in the office of the premises or in the program of the performance in any space classified as a F-1A occupancy under the building code such diagram may be printed in black lines, occupying a space on the program of ten square inches or more.
(b) An audible announcement shall be made not more than 10 minutes prior to the start of any performance or program to notify the occupants of the locations of exits to be used in the event of a fire or other emergency; provided, however, that in any theatre the announcement may be projected upon a screen or other surface approved by the commissioner in a manner approved by the commissioner. Notwithstanding the foregoing, at the discretion of the commissioner, upon application any place of assembly in which at least one exit is clearly visible from every seat or standing area where people are authorized to view or participate in any performance or activity may be exempted from the requirements of this subdivision.
§ 2. This local law shall take effect 120 days after its enactment; except that the fire commissioner shall take all actions necessary to implement this local law on or before the date upon which it shall take effect.
LS# 2925
RBU
11/29/2005