Means of Escape Requirements in Singapore: Fire Code 2023

Means of escape requirements in Singapore are set by Chapter 2 of the SCDF Fire Code 2023. They cover how many exits a building needs, how wide they must be, how far an occupant may travel to reach one, and how exits are kept usable, marked and lit. The Fire Code sets minimum requirements for fire safety provisions in all buildings, taking account of their function, design, management, operation and maintenance. This guide explains how those requirements fit together for developers, building owners, architects and qualified persons (QPs).

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TL;DR

Means of escape is governed by Chapter 2 of the Fire Code 2023, with exit lighting and signs in Chapter 8. Required exits must stay accessible, with doors openable and unobstructed whenever the building is occupied.
The number, width and capacity of exits follow from occupant load, building use, floor area and travel distance, using Table 2.2A. Capacity is counted in 0.5m units.
The 5th batch of Fire Code amendments, effective 2 September 2026, generally excludes staircase width above 2m from exit capacity.
Exit lighting must give at least 0.5 lux on the escape-route centre line for at least 1 hour, and exit signs must be clearly visible over every exit door.
For specified projects, the QP submits a Fire Safety Report with the building plan. Owners must keep the Fire Safety Instruction Manual current.

What counts as a means of escape
How exit number, width and capacity are determined
Travel distance and exit arrangement
Exit doors, corridors, staircases, signs and lighting
Persons with disabilities: holding points
How requirements vary by building use
What the qualified person and project team must do
A practical audit checklist for owners
Our perspective on means of escape
How AEC Technical Advisory can help
FAQ
Sources

What counts as a means of escape

Under Clause 2.3 of the Fire Code, means of escape must be provided for all buildings through one or more of the facilities the clause lists. Access and exit facilities that the Code does not specifically cover cannot be used without SCDF approval. The clause also states the operating principle in plain terms: required exits stay readily accessible, and doors stay openable and unobstructed at all times while the building is occupied.

In practice, a means of escape is a continuous, protected path from any point in the building to a safe place outside. Its parts are usually described in this order:

Exit access: the route from where an occupant stands to the exit, such as a room, open floor area or corridor.
The exit itself: an exit staircase, an exit passageway, or an exit door that opens to the outside. Clause 2.3 deals with exit passageways in detail, covering fire resistance, self-closing doors, and the width and capacity that must comply with Table 2.2A.
Exit discharge: the final leg from the exit to open ground or a public way.

The Code also deals with exit staircase signage. Exit staircases serving all buildings except Purpose Group I (the Fire Code’s industrial group) must carry a sign of at least 300 x 300mm inside the stairwell at each storey landing. It shows the storey number in characters at least 125mm high, and an alphabetical or numeric staircase identifier at least 25mm high. These details matter when a fit-out or alteration touches an existing stairwell.

One practical point on swing direction: SCDF’s own Code commentary notes that a door on an escape route should normally open in the direction of escape, and always should where it serves a room in which fire may develop very rapidly, such as a kitchen. Where a grille gate or door swing from a unit or service shaft into a common area is planned, the Code requires it to be shown with dotted lines on the building plans, so the egress requirement is demonstrated even with the door swung open.

How exit number, width and capacity are determined

Exit requirements are set by Clause 2.2, Determinations of Exit Requirements. The designer assesses occupant load, building use, floor area, travel distance and exit capacity, and reads the results against Table 2.2A. The sequence below reflects how a QP normally works through it.

Step 1: Establish the occupant load

Occupant load follows from the use and floor area of each space. Two floors of equal size can produce very different loads if one is an office and the other a restaurant or assembly space. This number drives everything that follows, so it should be fixed early and recorded consistently across architectural, fire safety and submission drawings.

Step 2: Count capacity in 0.5m units

Exit capacity is measured in units of 0.5 metres. Under Clause 2.2, a fraction of less than 250mm is not credited. A fraction of 250mm or more adds half a unit of width. A worked example:

Clear exit width	Credited width	Units of 0.5m
1,000mm	1.0m	2
1,200mm	1.0m (the extra 200mm is under 250mm)	2
1,250mm	1.25m is counted as 1.0m plus 250mm, so 1.5m	3
1,400mm	1.5m (the extra 400mm is 250mm or more, so it adds half a unit)	3

In the 1,250mm row, the credited width is the whole units plus half a unit for the 250mm fraction. The 1,200mm and 1,000mm rows show why a small increase in width can earn nothing while a slightly larger one earns half a unit.

Step 3: Apply the two-exit rule

Where two exits are required, each exit must be wide enough to accommodate at least half the total occupant load. This prevents a design where one generous exit carries the capacity on paper while the second is a token door. If one exit is blocked by fire, the other must still be able to take a meaningful share of the occupants.

Step 4: Note the 2026 change on wide staircases

The 5th batch of amendments to the Fire Code 2023, which took effect on 2 September 2026, generally excludes staircase width above 2m from exit capacity. There is an exception for qualifying enclosed assembly spaces. Any scheme that relied on a very wide staircase to meet capacity should be rechecked against the circular. Check the transitional arrangements and the exact wording with SCDF before committing to a design.

Travel distance and exit arrangement

Maximum travel distances depend on building use and sprinkler status, and they are tabulated in Table 2.2A. The same clause requires exits to be remotely located from one another, so one fire or one pocket of smoke is unlikely to block all of them at once.

SCDF is explicit that meeting the permissible travel distance does not by itself guarantee occupant life safety. Designers are expected to look at factors such as the separation of staircases and how the occupant load is distributed across them. Two common failure patterns show why:

Clustered exits. Two staircases placed side by side next to the core can both comply on distance and still be lost together to a single incident.
Uneven loading. A floor plan in which most occupants sit at one end, far from the second exit, may meet every numeric limit and still funnel most people to one stair.

Design choices around the layout of circulation space affect how people actually move when they evacuate. A planning guide to workplace circulation space is a useful companion when fit-out layouts are being set, since furniture and storage placement can narrow routes that the drawings show as clear. The statutory requirement remains the Fire Code, but the fit-out decides whether the route is usable on the day.

Exit doors, corridors, staircases, signs and lighting

These elements are where most site-level non-compliance is found. Several rules circulate online with specific widths, and owners should rely on the Code text and the approved plans for the building in question rather than on a generic figure. What the Fire Code states clearly is as follows.

Doors and passageways

Exit doors opening into an exit passageway must have the fire resistance rating required for exit doors opening into exit staircases. They must carry an automatic self-closing device and comply with the fire-resisting door provisions in Clause 3.9.2. The minimum width and capacity of the passageway follow Table 2.2A. For the full list, read Clause 2.3 directly.

Owners who are changing door hardware should also review how locks interact with escape. Our article on fire-rated digital locks under the 2024-2025 SCDF regulations covers that question.

Exit signs

Under Clause 8.1 of the Fire Code, exit signs must be clearly visible and located over every exit door. They must also be provided for exit access doors in rooms with multiple exits, except where specific exemptions apply. The Code’s exemptions are narrow, so a missing sign should never be assumed exempt without checking the clause.

Exit lighting

The same clause requires exit lighting to provide at least 0.5 lux on the escape-route centre line at floor level, for at least 1 hour, and to energise within 1 second. The checks that follow from this are routine but frequently skipped:

Measure illuminance at floor level along the centre line of the route, not at the luminaire.
Test battery duration against the full 1 hour, not a short function test.
Confirm that emergency fittings switch on within 1 second when normal power is cut.

Staircases

Beyond the 2m capacity limit described above, staircases must be identified with the storey and staircase signage already described. Alterations that introduce storage, shelving or new partitions into a stairwell or lobby are the commonest way that a compliant escape route stops being one.

Persons with disabilities: holding points

Under Clause 2.4, PWD holding points are required on all storeys, including basements, except the first or grade-level storey. Listed building types and uses are exempt. Because the exemptions are defined by building type, an owner of a mixed-use or converted property should confirm in writing with the QP which category applies instead of assuming the exemption.

How requirements vary by building use

Building use runs through every step above: it determines the occupant load, the maximum travel distance, whether sprinklers change that distance, and which special provisions apply. Three examples:

Offices and tenancies. Smaller fit-outs raise questions about when SCDF involvement begins. See our explanation of the 200sqm rule for office renovation fire safety.
Shophouses. Narrow plots, party walls and conservation constraints limit where escape routes can go. Our guides to the SCDF Fire Code 2023 for shophouse renovation and to change of use for shophouses cover this.
New developments. Large floor plates, multiple cores and mixed uses make the staircase count and type a central design decision. Our compliance guide for Singapore developers sets out the wider framework.

What the qualified person and project team must do

Means of escape is a design obligation first, but it continues through approval, construction and operation.

At design and approval

For specified projects, the QP submits a Fire Safety Report with the building-plan submission. For major projects the report documents the fire safety concepts, the means of escape including the number and type of staircases, structural precautions and fire scenarios. Reviewers use it to judge whether the escape strategy is sound as a whole, not only line by line against tables.

During alteration and addition works

Where A&A works require an update, the QP submits the revised report to the building owner and SCDF. The Fire Code also requires the QP to update the Fire Safety Instruction Manual for A&A works. Any change to partitions, doors, staircases or occupancy in an existing building can alter the escape strategy, so the manual and report should be treated as living documents.

In operation

Building owners must maintain and keep the Fire Safety Instruction Manual at all times and present it to the QP upon request. A manual that no longer matches the building is a documentation gap that tends to surface during inspections and enforcement. Our article on fire safety inspection reports, SCDF cases and compliance enforcement explains how that plays out.

A practical audit checklist for owners

Use this list at least before any renovation, change of tenancy or authority inspection:

Compare the as-built layout with the last approved plans, including door swings and any grille gates.
Walk every escape route from the furthest point to the final exit, checking that nothing is stored, locked or narrowed.
Confirm that exit staircases carry the required storey and identification signage.
Check exit signs over every exit door and exit access doors in rooms with multiple exits.
Test emergency lighting for 1-second energising and the full 1-hour duration.
Check that fire-resisting doors on exit passageways and stairs self-close and latch.
Confirm the Fire Safety Instruction Manual reflects the present layout and use.
If any item fails, engage a QP before rectifying, because the fix may itself need approval.

Our perspective on means of escape

We see the same pattern repeatedly in Singapore projects: escape routes are designed correctly and degrade afterwards. A tenant adds a partition, an operator relocates storage into a lobby, a lock is changed without checking the door’s rating, and the approved plan no longer describes the building. The numbers in Table 2.2A are rarely where the problem starts.

For that reason we treat means of escape as a coordination problem between disciplines. Architectural layout fixes the exit positions, structural design must allow for the stairs and openings, M&E design must deliver the lighting and fire protection systems, and the authority submission must tell one consistent story. When these are prepared by separate parties with no single owner of the escape strategy, inconsistencies appear between drawings and they are costly to resolve after submission.

Our advice to owners and developers is to settle occupant load and staircase strategy at concept stage, to test wide-staircase assumptions against the 2026 amendment before drawings are finalised, and to keep the Fire Safety Instruction Manual as current as the plans. Responsive communication with the QP during works prevents most of the problems we are asked to fix later.

— Aman

How AEC Technical Advisory can help

We prepare engineering and architectural designs and manage submissions to Singapore authorities, including SCDF/FSSD submissions, approvals and FSC, alongside BCA and URA submissions. Our team also provides PE endorsement for architectural design and submissions. If a layout needs checking against the Fire Code before submission, or an existing building needs its escape strategy reviewed after alterations, see our services or the page on PE endorsement and authority submissions. For the approval path itself, read how to obtain fire safety approval in Singapore.

FAQ

What are the requirements for emergency exit doors in Singapore?

Required exits must remain accessible, and their doors must be openable and unobstructed whenever the building is occupied. Exit doors opening into exit passageways must meet the fire resistance rating applied to exit stair doors and carry a self-closing device. Exit signs must be visible over every exit door. The precise widths depend on Table 2.2A for the building use.

How is the number of exits decided?

The designer assesses occupant load, building use, floor area and travel distance, then reads the result against Table 2.2A. Where two exits are needed, each must be wide enough for at least half the total occupant load. Exits must also be remote from one another so a single incident does not block both.

What are the components of a means of escape?

A means of escape runs from the occupant’s position through the exit access, then an exit such as a staircase, passageway or exit door, and finally out to open ground. It also includes the supporting provisions, such as exit signs, emergency lighting and, for persons with disabilities, holding points on applicable storeys.

Does staying within the travel distance mean a design is safe?

Not on its own. SCDF states that conforming to permissible travel distance does not guarantee life safety. Designers must also consider staircase separation and how occupants are distributed among exits.