Change of Occupancy or Use

Assembly Group A-1.

Group A-1 occupancy includes assembly uses, usually with fixed seating, intended for the production and viewing of the performing arts or motion pictures, including but not limited to:

• Motion picture theaters
• Symphony and concert halls
• Television and radio studios admitting an audience
• Theaters

Assembly Group A-2.

Group A-2 occupancy includes assembly uses intended for food and/or drink consumption, including but not limited to:

• Banquet halls
• Casinos (gaming areas)
• Nightclubs
• Restaurants, cafeterias and similar dining facilities (including associated commercial kitchens)

Assembly Group A-3.

Group A-3 occupancy includes assembly uses intended for worship, recreation or amusement and other assembly uses not classified elsewhere in Group A, including but not limited to:

• Amusement arcades
• Art galleries
• Bowling alleys
• Community halls
• Courtrooms
• Dance halls (not including food or drink consumption)
• Exhibition halls
• Funeral parlors
• Greenhouses for the conservation and exhibition of plants that provide public access
• Gymnasiums (without spectator seating)
• Indoor swimming pools (without spectator seating)
• Indoor tennis courts (without spectator seating)
• Lecture halls
• Libraries
• Museums
• Places of religious worship
• Pool and billiard parlors
• Waiting areas in transportation terminals
• Taverns and bars

Assembly Group A-4.

Group A-4 occupancy includes assembly uses intended for viewing of indoor sporting events and activities with spectator seating, including but not limited to:

• Arenas
• Skating rinks
• Swimming pools
• Tennis courts

Assembly Group A-5.

Group A-5 occupancy includes assembly uses intended for participation in or viewing outdoor activities, including but not limited to:

• Amusement park structures
• Bleachers
• Grandstands
• Stadiums

Business Group B.

Business Group B occupancy includes, among others, the use of a building or structure, or a portion thereof, for office, professional or service-type transactions, including storage of records and accounts. Business occupancies shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Airport traffic control towers
• Ambulatory care facilities
• Animal hospitals, kennels and pounds
• Banks
• Barber and beauty shops
• Car wash
• Civic administration
• Clinic, outpatient
• Dry cleaning and laundries: pick-up and delivery stations and self-service
• Educational occupancies for students above the 12th grade including higher education laboratories
• Electronic data entry
• Food processing establishments and commercial kitchens not associated with restaurants, cafeterias and similar dining facilities not more than 2,500 square feet (232 m2) in area
• Laboratories: testing and research
• Lithium-ion or lithium metal battery testing, research and development
• Motor vehicle showrooms
• Post offices
• Print shops
• Professional services (architects, attorneys, dentists, physicians, engineers, etc.)
• Radio and television stations
• Telephone exchanges
• Training and skill development not in a school or academic program (this shall include, but not be limited to, tutoring centers, martial arts studios, gymnastics and similar uses regardless of the ages served, and where not classified as a Group A occupancy)

Educational Group E.

Educational Group E occupancy includes, among others, the use of a building or structure, or a portion thereof, by six or more persons at any one time for educational purposes through the 12th grade.

Accessory to places of religious worship. Religious educational rooms and religious auditoriums, which are accessory to places of religious worship in accordance with Section 303.1.4 and have occupant loads of less than 100 per room or space, shall be classified as Group A-3 occupancies.

This group includes buildings and structures or portions thereof occupied by more than five children older than 2 1/2 years of age who receive educational, supervision or personal care services for fewer than 24 hours per day.

Moderate-hazard factory industrial, Group F-1.

Factory industrial uses that are not classified as Factory Industrial F-2 Low Hazard shall be classified as F-1 Moderate Hazard and shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Aircraft (manufacturing, not to include repair)
• Appliances
• Athletic equipment
• Automobiles and other motor vehicles
• Bakeries
• Beverages: over 20 percent alcohol content
• Bicycles
• Boats
• Brooms or brushes
• Business machines
• Cameras and photo equipment
• Canvas or similar fabric
• Carpets and rugs (includes cleaning)
• Clothing
• Construction and agricultural machinery
• Disinfectants
• Dry cleaning and dyeing
• Electric generation plants
• Electronics
• Energy storage systems (ESS) in dedicated use buildings
• Energy storage systems (ESS) and equipment containing lithium-ion or lithium metal batteries
• Engines (including rebuilding)
• Food processing establishments and commercial kitchens not associated with restaurants, cafeterias and similar dining facilities more than 2,500 square feet (232 m2) in area
• Furniture
• Hemp products
• Jute products
• Laundries
• Leather products
• Lithium-ion batteries
• Machinery
• Metals
• Millwork (sash and door)
• Motion pictures and television filming (without spectators)
• Musical instruments
• Optical goods
• Paper mills or products
• Photographic film
• Plastic products
• Printing or publishing
• Recreational vehicles
• Refuse incineration
• Shoes
• Soaps and detergents
• Textiles
• Tobacco
• Trailers
• Upholstering
• Vehicles powered by lithium-ion or lithium metal batteries
• Water/sewer treatment facilities
• Wood; distillation
• Woodworking (cabinet)

Low-hazard factory industrial, Group F-2.

Factory industrial uses that involve the fabrication or manufacturing of noncombustible materials that during finishing, packing or processing do not involve a significant fire hazard shall be classified as Group F-2 occupancies and shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Beverages: up to and including 20 percent alcohol content
• Brick and masonry
• Ceramic products
• Foundries
• Glass products
• Gypsum
• Ice
• Metal products (fabrication and assembly)

High-hazard Group H-1.

Buildings and structures containing materials that pose a detonation hazard shall be classified as Group H-1. Such materials shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Detonable pyrophoric materials
• Explosives:
• Division 1.1
• Division 1.2
• Division 1.3
• Division 1.4
• Division 1.5
• Division 1.6
• Organic peroxides, unclassified detonable
• Oxidizers, Class 4
• Unstable (reactive) materials, Class 3 detonable and Class 4

High-hazard Group H-2.

Buildings and structures containing materials that pose a deflagration hazard or a hazard from accelerated burning shall be classified as Group H-2. Such materials shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Class I, II or IIIA flammable or combustible liquids that are used or stored in normally open containers or systems, or in closed containers or systems pressurized at more than 15 pounds per square inch gauge (103.4 kPa).
• Combustible dusts where manufactured, generated or used in such a manner that the concentration and conditions create a fire or explosion hazard based on information prepared in accordance with Section 414.1.3.
• Cryogenic fluids, flammable.
• Category 1A flammable gases.
• Category 1B flammable gases having a burning velocity greater than 3.9 inches per second (10 cm/s)
• Organic peroxides, Class I.
• Oxidizers, Class 3, that are used or stored in normally open containers or systems, or in closed containers or systems pressurized at more than 15 pounds per square inch gauge (103 kPa).
• Pyrophoric liquids, solids and gases, nondetonable.
• Unstable (reactive) materials, Class 3, nondetonable.
• Water-reactive materials, Class 3.

High-hazard Group H-3.

Buildings and structures containing materials that readily support combustion or that pose a physical hazard shall be classified as Group H-3. Such materials shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Class I, II or IIIA flammable or combustible liquids that are used or stored in normally closed containers or systems pressurized at 15 pounds per square inch gauge (103.4 kPa) or less
• Combustible fibers, other than densely packed baled cotton, where manufactured, generated or used in such a manner that the concentration and conditions create a fire or explosion hazard based on information prepared in accordance with Section 414.1.3
• Consumer fireworks, 1.4G (Class C, Common)
• Cryogenic fluids, oxidizing
• Category 1B flammable gases having a burning velocity of 3.9 inches per second (10 cm/s) or less
• Flammable solids
• Organic peroxides, Class II and III
• Oxidizers, Class 2
• Oxidizers, Class 3, that are used or stored in normally closed containers or systems pressurized at 15 pounds per square inch gauge (103 kPa) or less
• Oxidizing gases
• Unstable (reactive) materials, Class 2
• Water-reactive materials, Class 2

High-hazard Group H-4.

Buildings and structures containing materials that are health hazards shall be classified as Group H-4. Such materials shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Corrosives
• Highly toxic materials
• Toxic materials

High-hazard Group H-5.

• Semiconductor fabrication facilities and comparable research and development areas in which hazardous production materials (HPM) are used and the aggregate quantity of materials is in excess of those specified in Tables 307.1(1) and 307.1(2) shall be classified as Group H-5. Such facilities and areas shall be designed and constructed in accordance with Section 415.11.

Institutional Group I-1.

Institutional Group I-1 occupancy shall include buildings, structures or portions thereof for more than 16 persons, excluding staff, who reside on a 24-hour basis in a supervised environment and receive custodial care. Buildings of Group I-1 shall be classified as one of the occupancy conditions specified in Section 308.2.1 or 308.2.2 and shall comply with Section 420. This group shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Alcohol and drug centers
• Assisted living facilities
• Congregate care facilities
• Group homes
• Halfway houses
• Residential board and care facilities
• Social rehabilitation facilities

Institutional Group I-2.

Institutional Group I-2 occupancy shall include buildings and structures used for medical care on a 24-hour basis for more than five persons who are incapable of self-preservation. This group shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Foster care facilities
• Detoxification facilities
• Hospitals
• Nursing homes
• Psychiatric hospitals

308.4 Institutional Group I-3.

Institutional Group I-3 occupancy shall include buildings and structures that are inhabited by more than five persons who are under restraint or security. A Group I-3 facility is occupied by persons who are generally incapable of self-preservation due to security measures not under the occupants’ control. This group shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Correctional centers
• Detention centers
• Jails
• Prerelease centers
• Prisons
• Reformatories

Institutional Group I-4, day care facilities.

Institutional Group I-4 occupancy shall include buildings and structures occupied by more than five persons of any age who receive custodial care for fewer than 24 hours per day by persons other than parents or guardians; relatives by blood, marriage or adoption; and in a place other than the home of the person cared for. This group shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Adult day care
• Child day care

Mercantile Group M.

Mercantile Group M occupancy includes, among others, the use of a building or structure or a portion thereof for the display and sale of merchandise, and involves stocks of goods, wares or merchandise incidental to such purposes and where the public has access. Mercantile occupancies shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Department stores
• Drug stores
• Greenhouses for display and sale of plants that provide public access
• Markets
• Motor fuel-dispensing facilities
• Retail or wholesale stores
• Sales rooms

Residential Group R-1.

Residential Group R-1 occupancies containing sleeping units or more than two dwelling units where the occupants are primarily transient in nature, including:

• Boarding houses (transient) with more than 10 occupants
• Congregate living facilities (transient) with more than 10 occupants
• Hotels (transient)
• Motels (transient)
• Lodging houses with more than five guestrooms

310.3 Residential Group R-2.

Residential Group R-2 occupancies containing sleeping units or more than two dwelling units where the occupants are primarily permanent in nature, including:

• Apartment houses
• Congregate living facilities (nontransient) with more than 16 occupants
• Boarding houses (nontransient)
• Convents
• Dormitories
• Emergency services living quarters
• Fraternities and sororities
• Monasteries
• Hotels (nontransient) with more than five guestrooms
• Live/work units
• Motels (nontransient) with more than five guestrooms
• Vacation timeshare properties

Residential Group R-3.

Residential Group R-3 occupancies where the occupants are primarily permanent in nature and not classified as Group R-1, R-2, R-4 or I, including:

• Buildings that do not contain more than two dwelling units
• Care facilities that provide accommodations for five or fewer persons receiving care
• Congregate living facilities (nontransient) with 16 or fewer occupants
• Boarding houses (nontransient)
• Convents
• Dormitories
• Emergency services living quarters
• Fraternities and sororities
• Monasteries
• Congregate living facilities (transient) with 10 or fewer occupants
• Boarding houses (transient)
• Lodging houses with five or fewer guestrooms
• Hotels (nontransient) with five or fewer guestrooms
• Motels (nontransient) with five or fewer guestrooms

Residential Group R-4.

Residential Group R-4 occupancy shall include buildings, structures or portions thereof for more than five but not more than 16 persons, excluding staff, who reside on a 24-hour basis in a supervised residential environment and receive custodial care. Buildings of Group R-4 shall be classified as one of the occupancy conditions specified in Section 310.5.1 or 310.5.2. This group shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Alcohol and drug centers
• Assisted living facilities
• Congregate care facilities
• Group homes
• Halfway houses
• Residential board and care facilities
• Social rehabilitation facilities

Moderate-hazard storage, Group S-1.

Storage Group S-1 occupancies are buildings occupied for storage uses that are not classified as Group S-2, including, but not limited to, storage of the following:

• Aerosol products, Levels 2 and 3, aerosol cooking spray, plastic aerosol 3 (PA3)
• Aircraft hangar (storage and repair)
• Bags: cloth, burlap and paper
• Bamboos and rattan
• Baskets
• Belting: canvas and leather
• Beverages over 20 percent alcohol content
• Books and paper in rolls or packs
• Boots and shoes
• Buttons, including cloth covered, pearl or bone
• Cardboard and cardboard boxes
• Clothing, woolen wearing apparel
• Cordage
• Dry boat storage (indoor)
• Furniture
• Furs
• Glues, mucilage, pastes and size
• Grains
• Horns and combs, other than celluloid
• Leather
• Linoleum
• Lithium-ion or lithium metal batteries
• Lumber
• Motor vehicle repair garages complying with the maximum allowable quantities of hazardous materials specified in Table 307.1(1) (see Section 406.8)
• Photo engravings
• Resilient flooring
• Self-service storage facility (mini-storage)
• Silks
• Soaps
• Sugar
• Tires, bulk storage of
• Tobacco, cigars, cigarettes and snuff
• Upholstery and mattresses
• Vehicle repair garages for vehicles powered by lithium-ion or lithium metal batteries
• Wax candles

Low-hazard storage, Group S-2.

Storage Group S-2 occupancies include, among others, buildings used for the storage of noncombustible materials such as products on wood pallets or in paper cartons with or without single thickness divisions; or in paper wrappings. Such products are permitted to have a negligible amount of plastic trim, such as knobs, handles or film wrapping. Group S-2 storage uses shall include, but not be limited to, storage of the following:

• Asbestos
• Beverages up to and including 20 percent alcohol
• Cement in bags
• Chalk and crayons
• Dairy products in nonwaxed coated paper containers
• Dry cell batteries
• Electrical coils
• Electrical motors
• Empty cans
• Food products
• Foods in noncombustible containers
• Fresh fruits and vegetables in nonplastic trays or containers
• Frozen foods
• Glass
• Glass bottles, empty or filled with noncombustible liquids
• Gypsum board
• Inert pigments
• Ivory
• Meats
• Metal cabinets
• Metal desks with plastic tops and trim
• Metal parts
• Metals
• Mirrors
• Oil-filled and other types of distribution transformers
• Public parking garages, open or enclosed
• Porcelain and pottery
• Stoves
• Talc and soapstones
• Washers and dryers

General Utility Group U.

Buildings and structures of an accessory character and miscellaneous structures not classified in any specific occupancy shall be constructed, equipped and maintained to conform to the requirements of this code commensurate with the fire and life hazard incidental to their occupancy. Group U shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Agricultural buildings
• Aircraft hangars, accessory to a one- or two-family residence (see Section 412.4)
• Barns
• Carports
• Communication equipment structures with a gross floor area of less than 1,500 square feet (139 m2)
• Fences more than 7 feet (2134 mm) in height
• Grain silos, accessory to a residential occupancy
• Livestock shelters
• Private garages
• Retaining walls
• Sheds
• Stables
• Tanks
• Towers