(a) Occupancy certificate generally. In every place of public or private assembly, there must be a certificate permanently posted in a conspicuous place in the room near the entrance. Such certificate must be furnished and signed by the Director, and must read as follows:
Not more than ___________ persons permitted in ________________
_________________________________________________________
Department of
Permitting Services
Montgomery County, Maryland
Permitting Services
Montgomery County, Maryland
(b) Capacity in excess of occupancy certificate. No owner, operator or manager or person in charge or agent for employee shall permit within a place of public or private assembly any persons in excess of the number allowed by the capacity certificate for such place. In any doubt as to the computation of occupancy load, the capacity certificate shall control.
(c) Sale of tickets in excess of occupancy certificate limit. No owner, operator, manager or agent or employee of any place of public or private assembly hereto referred shall sell or permit any employee, agent or servant to sell for a single performance or between the beginning and end of any single performance or show (including short or extra attractions in the case of motion pictures) more tickets or admissions than the number of persons allowed within such place by the capacity certificate. Such sale of an excess number of tickets or admissions shall be prima facie evidence of the violation of this chapter.
(d) Posting of occupancy certificate. It shall be unlawful to operate or use any place of assembly unless the capacity certificate required by subsection (a) of this section is conspicuously posted.
(e) Audiences to be informed of exits. It shall be the duty of the person in charge of any theatre or place of public assembly to call the attention of those present, immediately prior to the beginning of the play, address or other matter of proceedings for which the people are assembled, to the number and location of the several exits in the building or hall and to state that the doors to all such exits are unlocked. Before making such announcement, it shall be the duty of such person to make an actual inspection to verify the fact or to see that said doors are unlocked.
(1) It shall be the duty of the person in charge of every public or private assembly to call the attention of everyone present at a performance, address, exhibition or other matter of proceeding to the exits by displaying or announcing the following:
NOTICE
For your own safety, LOOK for your nearest EXIT. In
case of emergency, WALK, do not RUN, to that EXIT.
case of emergency, WALK, do not RUN, to that EXIT.
(2) The requirement for calling the attention of everyone present in any public or private assembly shall be considered complied with by one of the following:
i. Oral announcement of the above notice from stage, platform on floor at the beginning of every performance, address, exhibition, contest or other matter of proceedings.
ii. Showing the above notice on cinema screen where moving or stereopticon pictures are shown.
iii. Printing the above notice in bold type letters not less than one-fourth inch in height on the back of programs for such performances, matters or other proceedings, and nothing but the said notice shall be placed thereon.
iv. Having a fixed sign or signs displaying the above notice printed in letters of a size and clearness that can be easily read from any and every point in the assembly room.
(f) Interior finish. Walls, ceilings and floor covering shall be in accordance with the interior finish requirements listed in NFPA 101, Life Safety Code, adopted in section 22-14.
(g) Decorations-Defined. Decorative material shall include all such material as curtains, draperies, streamers, surface coverings applied over interior finish for decorative, acoustical or other effect and also cloth, cotton batting, straw, vines, leaves, trees and moss used for decorative effect, but it shall not include floor coverings, ordinary window shades, nor materials one twenty-eighth of an inch or less in thickness applied directly and adhering tightly to a noncombustible base.
(h) Same-Use of flammable material, etc. No decorative material shall be used which as applied will ignite and allow flame to spread over the surface or allows burning particles to drop when exposed to a match flame test applied to a piece removed from the material and tested in a safe place. The piece shall be held in a vertical position and the bottom edge exposed to a flame from a common match held in a horizontal position, one-half inch underneath the piece, and at a constant location for a minimum of twelve (12) seconds.
(i) Same-Renewal of flameproofing treatments. Treatments used to accomplish this flameproofing shall be renewed as often as may be necessary to maintain the flameproof effect.
(j) Same-Pyroxylin coated fabrics. Pyroxylin coated fabric used as a decorative material in accordance with subsection (g) of this section or as a surface covering on fixed furnishings, shall be limited as follows: Such fabrics containing 1.4 ounces or more of cellulose nitrate per square yard shall not be used in excess of a total amount equivalent to one (1) square foot of fabric surface to fifteen (15) cubic feet of room volume. Each square foot of such fabric which contains 1.7 ounces or more of cellulose nitrate per square yard shall be counted as two (2) square feet in making this computation.
(k) Flammable screens. In places of assembly no motion picture screen or screen masking shall be used which will ignite and allow flame to spread over the surface when exposed to the match flame test described in subsection (h) of this section.
(l) Checking egress facilities. The operator or the person in charge of operation or use of any place of assembly shall check egress facilities before such place of assembly is occupied for any use to determine compliance with the provisions of this section.
(m) Locking, etc., of egress doors. During the period of occupancy, an egress door shall not be locked, bolted or otherwise fastened or obstructed by any means, so that the door cannot be opened from the inside by the use of the ordinary door latch or knob or by pressure on the door or on a panic release device.
(n) Aisles. In each room where chairs or tables and chairs are used the arrangement shall be such as to provide for ready access by aisles to each egress door. Aisles leading directly to an egress door shall have not less than thirty-six (36) inches clear width, which shall not be obstructed by chairs, tables or other objects.
(o) Obstructions. A part of a stairway, whether interior or exterior, or of a hallway, corridor, vestibule, balcony or bridge leading to a stairway or exitway shall not be used in any way that will obstruct or restrict its use as a means of egress or that will present a hazardous condition.
(p) Egress plan. A plan showing the capacity and location of exitways and of aisles leading thereto shall be submitted for approval to the Director and an approved copy shall be kept on display in the premises.
(q) Stopping of performance, etc. by Director. The Director, upon finding any overcrowding conditions or obstructions in aisles, passageways or other means of egress; or upon finding any condition which constitutes a serious menace to life shall cause the performance, presentation, spectacle or entertainment to be stopped until such condition or obstruction is corrected.
(r) Failure to leave premises when requested to do so. Any person who fails to leave any premises that are overcrowded when told to do so by the management of the premises or any authorized enforcement officer shall be deemed in violation of this code and subject to the penalties provide by law.
(s) Capacity certificates deemed permit for certain purposes. Capacity certificates described in subsection (a) of this section shall be considered for the purposes of this chapter a permit and the provisions of sections 22-10, 22-11 and 22-12 shall apply to capacity certificates. (1975 L.M.C., ch. 23, § 1; 2016 L.M.C., ch. 30, §1.)