Free fire escape plan · machine shops
A machine shop lines its CNC machines up in rows, with chip bins at the ends, coolant drums along a wall and pallets of bar stock by the door. A layout drawing or a photo of a sketch turns into a free draft marking the exits, the routes to them and a meeting point; the sections below on oil-mist fires, burning chips and crowded aisles are for checking it.
This is a draft to check, not a fire inspection or an approval of your machines. Federal OSHA or your state plan and the local fire code set the rules, so walk every aisle before the map goes up.
Oil machines and EDMs
Some of the oil in a machine shop never leaves the machines: straight cutting oil, the mist it leaves inside the enclosure and, on a sinker EDM that runs in oil, the tank the work sits in. Know which machines those are, mark them, and keep the right extinguisher within reach.
OSHA’s definition of a Class B fire covers flammable or combustible liquids, flammable gases, greases and similar materials (29 CFR 1910.155(c)(9)). Cutting oil, way oil and EDM dielectric oil all fit that description, so the extinguisher you show beside these machines should be one rated for Class B fires.
Where employees are given extinguishers for Class B fires, the travel distance from the Class B hazard area to an extinguisher is 50 feet or less (29 CFR 1910.157(d)(4)). Measure the walk around the machines, the way someone would really go, not a straight line across them.
If your sinker EDM runs in dielectric oil, read what the maker’s manual says about the oil level over the work, the filters and any fire detection or automatic shutdown the machine has, and follow it. Keep the floor around the tank clear and show the machine on the posted map, so everyone knows where the oil is.
| Where it is | On the map | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Machines cutting with straight oil | Mark each one, with a Class B extinguisher no more than 50 feet of travel away. | 1910.157(d)(4) |
| The sinker EDM and its oil tank | Show the machine and its tank, so nobody is surprised by where the oil is. | The machine maker’s manual |
| Drums of cutting oil and coolant | Against a wall outside the aisle; nothing is stored in an exit route, even for a day. | 1910.37(a)(3) |
| Cleanup solvent | If it’s a flammable liquid, the storage cabinet it sits in holds no more than 60 gallons of Category 1, 2 or 3 liquids. | 1910.106(d)(3)(i) |
Machine rows and night shift
Rows of machines make natural aisles, until a pallet of bar stock or a parts cart parks in one. The routes also have to work on the night shift, when a few operators may be the only people in the building.
At night, the person who knows who is in the building may be the lead operator, not the office manager. Keep the shift roster where that person can grab it on the way out, so the head count at the meeting point is quick.
Assembly point · the generator
Use a floor plan, a PDF, a phone photo of a printed layout or a sketch on graph paper. Label the office, the QC lab, the shop floor and any EDM or heat-treat area, and draw every man door. The draft adds routes, exits, safety symbols and a meeting point; then you check the machine rows, the chip bins and the oven against the routes.
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What you get is a draft to check, not a finished plan. Stand at each machine row and at the oven, follow the route to a door, and fix anything a pallet or cart blocks before you post it.
Before and after
The plain plan shows the office, the QC lab and a shop floor with four machining centers, four lathes, two chip bins, coolant drums, a parts washer, an EDM corner and a walled heat-treat room with its own door. The draft adds routes to five doors, exit signs, extinguishers by the oil machines, the chips and the oven, and an assembly point out front.
What the draft adds to a machine shop plan
Chips and chip bins
When a job comes in magnesium or titanium, the chips it makes change what the bin, the daily cleanup and the nearest extinguisher have to be. Plan for that before the first part comes off the machine.
OSHA defines a Class D fire as one involving combustible metals such as magnesium, titanium, zirconium, sodium, lithium and potassium (29 CFR 1910.155(c)(11)). A fire in a bin of these chips isn’t an oil fire, and an extinguisher meant for oil may not be the right one.
If you cut these metals often enough to make shavings, flakes or similar particles at least once every two weeks, OSHA wants Class D agent, in an extinguisher or another container, no more than 75 feet of travel from that work area (29 CFR 1910.157(d)(6)). Put its symbol on the map beside the machine that cuts them.
Roll the chip bins to the end of the row, out of the aisle, and keep magnesium or titanium chips in their own marked bins, apart from steel and aluminum. On the posted map, show where the full bins wait for pickup.
| Rule | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Under the machines, every day | Chips, turnings and other fine magnesium scrap are collected from the pans and spaces under the machines at least once each working day. | IFC 2021 5906.5.8 |
| Into a steel can | The scrap goes into a covered, vented steel container and is taken to an approved location. | IFC 2021 5906.5.8 |
| Kept apart | Magnesium fines are stored separately from other combustible materials. | IFC 2021 5906.4.1 |
| A big pile of scrap | More than 50 cubic feet of fine magnesium scrap, which the code equates to six 55-gallon steel drums, is separated from other occupancies by 50 feet of open space or a fire barrier. | IFC 2021 5906.4.2 |
If magnesium only comes in with the occasional customer job, update the posted map while that job runs, so the extra chip can and the Class D extinguisher are on it. Your city or state may use a different edition of the fire code, so check with the local fire marshal.
Heat treat and parts washers
A heat-treat oven brings fuel, high heat and sometimes a quench tank into the shop, and a parts washer may hold a solvent that burns. Both belong on the map, away from the walking routes and from machines that throw oil mist.
| Rule | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Away from mist and dust | Industrial ovens and furnaces are located so they don’t pose an ignition hazard to flammable vapors or mists or combustible dusts. | IFC 2021 3003.3 |
| Choosing the spot | Where the oven goes, the chance of fire from overheating or from escaping fuel gas or fuel oil, and of damage or injury from an explosion, are taken into account. | IFC 2021 3003.2 |
| The fuel shutoff | An approved manual fuel shutoff valve sits within 6 feet of the oven, unless an approved spot in the same general area is used, and it shows whether it’s open or closed. | IFC 2021 3004.2 to 3004.3 |
| Quench tanks and molten salt | For Class C and D ovens, fixed fire-extinguishing systems guard against hazards such as overheating, spilled molten salts or metals, quench tanks, burning hydraulic oil and escaping fuel; the user consults the fire code official on what’s needed. | IFC 2021 3006.2 |
| The portable extinguisher | No closer than 15 feet and no farther than 50 feet from the oven and its related equipment, or as NFPA 10 allows. | IFC 2021 3006.3 |
| Trained operators | The people who run, maintain and supervise the oven are thoroughly instructed and trained in its operation. | IFC 2021 3007.3 |
The code sorts ovens into classes A to D. Ask the oven’s maker or your fire code official which class yours is before you plan around it.
An oven’s manual fuel shutoff only helps if people can find it fast. Mark the valve on the map, keep the floor in front of it clear, and show it to every operator during their oven training.
Keep planning
Guides for trades that cut, form and store metal, plus pages for the written plan that goes with the map.
Questions
Yes. You can preview a watermarked draft from a floor plan, a PDF, a phone photo or a graph-paper sketch without an account. Signing up free, with no credit card, adds 5 free floor-plan uploads per month, with up to 5 regenerations per upload and the editor; exports keep a draft mark until the posting review is finished.
A fire in cutting oil or EDM dielectric oil is a Class B fire, which OSHA defines as one involving flammable or combustible liquids, flammable gases, greases and similar materials (29 CFR 1910.155(c)(9)). Where employees are given extinguishers for Class B fires, one has to be within 50 feet of travel (29 CFR 1910.157(d)(4)). Check the EDM maker’s manual and ask your extinguisher supplier for the exact type.
Under the 2021 International Fire Code, fine magnesium scrap is collected from under the machines at least once each working day, put in a covered, vented steel container and taken to an approved location (IFC 5906.5.8), and magnesium fines are kept apart from other combustible materials (IFC 5906.4.1). Your state or city may use a different edition, so check with the local fire marshal.
The 2021 International Fire Code puts portable extinguishers for industrial ovens and their related equipment no closer than 15 feet and no farther than 50 feet, or as NFPA 10 allows (IFC 3006.3). Check which edition your jurisdiction has adopted.
The routes don’t, but the people do. OSHA requires the employer to designate and train employees to help with an evacuation (29 CFR 1910.38(e)), so have someone on each shift, and review the plan with every new night hire when they start (29 CFR 1910.38(f)).
Yes. A phone photo of a printed layout or a sketch on graph paper works, as long as the walls and doors are readable. Take it straight on in good light, and label the machine rows, the EDM corner and the heat-treat room if you can.
Illustrations on this page use fictional layouts made for this page. They are not customer plans or live generator results.
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