Free fire escape plan · auto repair shops
A repair shop mixes cars on lifts, gasoline, batteries, used oil and customers who’ve never seen the back of the building. A photo of the map already on the wall, a floor plan or a quick sketch of the bays is enough to start a free draft with exits, routes and a meeting point outside. The bay, storage and waiting-room sections below are for checking it before it goes up.
A planning draft, not an inspection or approval. OSHA rules and your local fire code both apply, so check the plan in the shop before you post it.
Bays and lifts
The bay doors are the biggest openings in the building, and they’re the first ones people think of. Your exit plan should rest on the doors that open by hand, every time.
In a 2002 letter, OSHA said there are no specific OSHA standards or requirements for overhead doors (OSHA interpretation). What the exit route rule does require is a side-hinged door to connect any room to an exit route (29 CFR 1910.36(e)(1)). So the bays need a walk-through door of their own.
Exit route doors open from the inside at all times without keys, tools or special knowledge, and can’t have a device or alarm that would block them if it fails (1910.36(d)(1) and (d)(2)). Check the side door by the bays as often as the front door.
Exit access is at least 28 inches wide at all points (1910.36(g)(2)). Measure the walkway past each lift with a car in the air and the toolboxes, jacks and tires where they usually sit.
Your local fire code may say more about overhead doors than OSHA does. Plan routes to walk-through doors, mark any doorway that could be mistaken for an exit with “Not an exit” or its real use, like “Parts room” (1910.37(b)(5)), and ask your fire marshal how the bay doors are treated where you are.
Fuel, batteries and waste oil
If your shop keeps gasoline, solvents, batteries or used oil, the question for your plan is where, and whether any of it sits on a route or beside an exit door.
| In the shop | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Gasoline, solvents and other flammable liquids in a cabinet | A storage cabinet holds at most 60 gallons of Category 1, 2 or 3 flammable liquids, or 120 gallons of Category 4. | 1910.106(d)(3)(i) |
| Cans and drums near a door | Flammable liquids may not be stored where they limit use of exits, stairways or areas used for safe egress. | 1910.106(d)(5)(i) |
| Battery storage and charging | Storage batteries need enough ventilation to keep their gases from building up into an explosive mixture. | 1910.305(j)(7) |
| The waste-oil tank or drums | No materials or equipment may sit in an exit route, permanently or temporarily. | 1910.37(a)(3) |
| Extinguishers | Where portable extinguishers are provided, Class A ones are within 75 feet of travel and Class B ones within 50 feet. | 1910.157(d)(2) and (d)(4) |
Marking cabinets and tanks on your sketch lets you check that no route runs past them. You can also add them as text labels in the editor.
Assembly point · the generator
A floor plan, a PDF, a photo of the map on your wall or a sketch will do; upload one floor at a time. You’ll get routes, exits, safety symbols and a meeting point back. Check every route against the shop: each should end at a walk-through door and stay clear of the lifts, tanks and cabinets.
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Our AI drafts maps that follow OSHA 29 CFR 1910.36–37 and NFPA 101 Life Safety Code standards. Every map includes clearly marked exits, fire extinguisher locations, assembly points, and directional evacuation arrows. Supervisor review is required before posting to your facility.
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Every result is a draft. Check exits, routes and equipment in the shop before you post it, and follow your local fire code.
Before and after
The plain plan shows four bays, a parts room and a waiting area. The draft adds what a customer or a new tech needs in an alarm: which way to walk, where the extinguishers are and where to meet.
What the draft adds to a repair shop plan
Rags, washers and hot work
A fire that starts after closing has no one there to notice it. A short walk before you lock up covers the things these rules point to.
Materials that can ignite on their own, such as oily rags, go in a listed disposal container that’s emptied daily (IFC 2021 section 304.3.1). Your city may use another edition or local amendments.
Where a fire watch is required, it continues for at least half an hour after welding or cutting ends (29 CFR 1910.252(a)(2)(iii)(B)). Finish exhaust and bracket work early enough for the watch to end before you close.
Keep the parts washer and its drum out of the exit routes, like any other equipment (1910.37(a)(3)). If a route on your draft runs past it, move the route or the washer.
Rags in the listed can with the lid shut. Hot work finished early enough for the fire watch to end. Washer lids closed. Nothing left in the aisles or stacked against the exit doors for the morning crew.
Customers
Customers don’t know your building. In an alarm, a customer may head for the door they came in or follow whoever seems to know the way. Make sure that’s one of your people.
OSHA’s plan rules are written for employees. Your local fire code may set its own requirements for customer areas, so ask your fire marshal.
Keep planning
Guides for nearby trades, plus the workplace pages a repair shop needs.
Questions
Yes. A photo of your shop’s layout, the plan from your lease or a quick sketch of the bays, lifts and waiting room gets you a watermarked preview with no account. Create a free account, no credit card, for 5 free floor-plan uploads per month, with up to 5 regenerations per upload and the editor. Each export is marked as a draft until the posting review is complete.
OSHA has said it has no specific standards for overhead doors, but its exit route rule requires a side-hinged door to connect any room to an exit route (29 CFR 1910.36(e)(1)). Plan your routes to walk-through doors, and ask your local fire marshal how they treat the bay doors.
Anywhere that keeps it out of the exit routes. OSHA doesn’t allow materials or equipment in an exit route, even temporarily (29 CFR 1910.37(a)(3)). Your fire marshal or local code may have more to say about where the tank sits.
OSHA’s emergency action plan rule asks you to designate and train employees to help other employees evacuate (29 CFR 1910.38(e)). Planning the same help for customers is good practice: someone who walks them out, a posted copy in the waiting area and a headcount at the meeting point.
Routes from each bay, the parts room, the office and the waiting area to the walk-through exits, plus exit signs, extinguishers, alarm pull stations, first aid, a “You are here” marker and the outside meeting point. Add the flammable cabinet and battery area as text labels in the editor if you want them on the posted copy.
Yes. Take it straight on, in good light, with the whole sheet in the frame. Then compare the draft with the shop as it is today, because lifts, racks and doors move over the years.
Illustrations on this page use fictional layouts made for this page. They are not customer plans or live generator results.
Ready? Upload your repair shop’s plan and see your free draft.
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