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Occupancy and Use Classification

(Abridged List – See chapter 3 of the Ohio Building Code for details)

Assembly Group A  

Assembly Group A occupancy includes, among others, the use of a building or structure, or a portion thereof, for the gathering together of persons for purposes such as civic, social or religious functions, recreation, food or drink consumption or awaiting transportation. A room or  space used for assembly purposes by less than 50 persons and accessory to another occupancy shall be included as a part of that occupancy. Assembly occupancies shall include the following:

A-1 

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
  • Television and radio studios admitting an audience
  • Theaters

A-2 

Assembly uses intended for food and/or drink consumption including, but not limited to:

  • Banquet halls
  • Night clubs
  • Restaurants
  • Taverns and bars

A-3 

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
  • Auditoriums
  • Bowling alleys
  • Churches
  • Community halls
  • Courtrooms
  • Dance halls
  • Exhibition halls
  • Funeral parlors
  • Gymnasiums
  • Indoor swimming pools
  • Indoor tennis courts
  • Lecture halls
  • Libraries
  • Museums
  • Passenger stations (waiting area)
  • Pool and billiard parlors

A-4 

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

A-5 

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
  • Electronic data processing
  • 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 above the 12th grade
  • Fire and police stations
  • Motor vehicle showrooms
  • Post offices
  • Print shops
  • Professional services (architects, attorneys, dentists, physicians, engineers, etc.)
  • Radio and television stations
  • Telephone exchanges

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.

305.2 Day care. 

The use of a building or structure, or portion thereof, for educational, supervision or  personal care services for more than five children older than 2½ years of age, shall be  classified as a Group E occupancy.

Institutional Group I

308.5 Group I-4, day care facilities  

This group shall include buildings and structures occupied by persons of any age who receive  custodial care for less than 24 hours by individuals other than parents or guardians, relatives by blood, marriage, or adoption, and in a place other than the home of the person cared for. A facility such as the above with five or fewer persons shall be classified as a Group R-3. Places of worship during religious functions are not included.

  • 308.5.1 Adult care facility: A facility that provides accommodations for less than 24 hours for more than five unrelated adults and provides supervision and personal care services.
  • 308.5.2 Child care facility: A facility, that provides supervision and personal care on less than a 24-hour basis for more than five children 2½ years of age or less shall be classified as Group I-4. Exception: A child day care facility that provides care for more than five but no more than 100 children 2½ years or less of age, when the rooms where such children are  cared for are located on the level of exit discharge and each of these child care rooms has an exit door directly to the exterior, shall be classified as Group E.

Mercantile Group M  

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

  • Department stores
  • Drug stores
  • Markets
  • Motor vehicle service stations
  • Retail or wholesale stores
  • Sales rooms

Residential Group R 

Residential Group R includes, among others, the use of a building or structure, or a portion  thereof, for sleeping accommodations when not classed as an Institutional Group I. Residential occupancies shall include the following:

R-1 

Residential occupancies where the occupants are primarily transient in nature (less than 30 days) including:

  • Boarding houses (transient)
  • Hotels (including motels)

R-2

Residential occupancies containing more than two dwelling units where the occupants are primarily permanent in nature, including:

  • Apartment houses
  • Boarding houses (not transient)
  • Convents
  • Dormitories
  • Fraternities and sororities
  • Monasteries

R-3 

Residential occupancies where the occupants are primarily permanent in nature and not classified as R-1, R-2 or I and where buildings do not contain more than two dwelling units, or adult and child care facilities that provide accommodations for five or fewer persons of any  age for less than 24 hours.

R-4 

Residential occupancies shall include buildings arranged for occupancy as Residential  Care/Assisted Living Facilities including more than five but not more than 16 occupants,  excluding staff. Group R-4 occupancies shall meet the requirements for construction as  defined for Group R-3 except for the height and area limitations provided in Section 503.

Storage Group S 

Storage Group S occupancy includes among others, the use of a building or structure, or a portion thereof, for storage that is not classed as a hazardous occupancy.

Moderate-hazard storage, Group S-1

Buildings occupied for storage uses which are not classified as Group S-2 including, but not limited, to storage of the following:

  • Aerosols, Level 2 and Level 3
  • Aircraft hangars
  • Bags, cloth, burlap and paper
  • Bamboos and rattan
  • Baskets
  • Belting, canvas and leather
  • Books and paper in rolls or packs
  • Boots and shoes
  • Buttons
  • Cardboard and cardboard boxes
  • Clothing, woolen wearing apparel
  • Cordage
  • Furniture
  • Furs
  • Glues, mucilage, pastes and size
  • Grains
  • Horns and combs, other than celluloid
  • Leather
  • Linoleum
  • Lumber
  • Motor vehicle repair garages
  • Petroleum warehouses for storage of
  • lubricating oils
  • Photo engravings
  • Resilient flooring
  • Silks
  • Soaps
  • Sugar
  • Tires, bulk storage of
  • Tobacco, cigars, cigarettes and snuff
  • Upholstery and mattresses
  • Wax candles

Low-hazard storage, Group S-2

Includes, 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 may have a negligible amount of plastic trim such as knobs, handles or film wrapping. Storage uses include, but are only limited to, storage of the following:

  • Asbestos
  • Beer or wine
  • Cement in bags
  • Chalk and crayons
  • Dairy products
  • Dry cell batteries
  • Electrical coils
  • Electrical motors
  • Empty cans
  • Food products
  • Foods in noncombustible containers
  • Fresh fruits and vegetables
  • Frozen foods
  • Glass
  • Glass bottles, empty or filled w/ 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
  • Parking garages, open or enclosed
  • Porcelain and pottery
  • Stoves
  • Talc and soapstones
  • Washers and dryers

UTILITY AND MISCELLANEOUS 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
  • Barns
  • Carports
  • Fences more than 6 feet high
  • Grain silos
  • Greenhouses
  • Livestock shelters
  • Private garages
  • Retaining walls
  • Sheds
  • Stables
  • Tanks
  • Tower
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