Checking escape routes and fire compartments under OIB guideline 2
Fire resistance, escape route length, fire compartment: Piloti settles the building class first, then cites the requirement to the clause and, on request, checks your floor plan against it, segment by segment.
In short
Piloti checks fire safety under OIB guideline 2 in the order the guideline is built: building class and the edition in force in the state first, then the requirement with a checked citation, then, on request, the finding on the drawing. Every answer says whether it describes the requirement or checks that it is met.
What Piloti delivers
- The escape route as a diagram
- An escape route made of several segments is drawn with each segment separately. The question is almost always which segment is too long, not whether the total fits.
- Fire compartments as a check table
- One row per compartment, with area, limit, source and result, summarised at the top, such as “2 met · 1 open”.
- Access and staging area
- Where fire brigade access is the question, a sketch shows the approach, passage and staging area.
- Options side by side
- Two solutions for a stairwell stand side by side as tabs, each with its own verdict.
Why fire safety questions are tricky
OIB guideline 2 is organised by building class. A fire resistance class without the building class it follows from is a number with no standing, and a number from the wrong edition reads just as convincingly as the right one. The 2023 edition is not binding everywhere; where a state has not declared it, the 2019 edition generally still applies, according to the OIB overview.
Then there is state law. The states adopt the guideline through their building-technology rules, with their own deviations. In Vienna, the MA 37 information sheets sit next to the Wiener Bautechnikverordnung 2023. What binds and what merely interprets therefore belongs in the answer.
And at the end is the difference that is easiest to lose. The guideline says what must be met. Whether it is met in this building is a finding about the project. A rough check on the drawing is not a fire safety concept.
How Piloti works through the question
- 01
Settle the building class
If it is missing and changes the answer, Piloti determines it first. No resistance class is named before that.
- 02
Name the edition
Piloti takes the version binding in the state and names it wherever it moves the value.
- 03
Fetch the requirement
It comes from the wording of the guideline and the state’s building-technology rules, cited to the clause, such as “Pkt. 3.5.2 · S. 7”, and checked against the source text before it is shown.
- 04
Treat the second escape route as two questions
Whether one is required follows from class and use. Whether it counts follows from where it leads. Piloti answers both or says which of the two is open.
- 05
Check on the drawing if you want it
If floor plans are in the project, Piloti reads them as images and checks segment by segment. The result is then called a finding, not a requirement, and the answer says which of the two you are looking at.
What Piloti needs from you
- State and building class, or the facts the class follows from.
- The use, including that of individual parts: housing, office, garage, retail.
- For a check on the drawing: floor plans of the storeys concerned, dimensioned where possible.
- Whether it is new build or existing. A conversion often has different routes than a new building.
Good to know
Piloti prepares requirement and finding with citations; the fire safety concept and the responsibility for it stay with the fire safety designer. If the building class is missing, Piloti asks for it before naming a resistance class. Where the guideline refers to a standard, Piloti names it, and you look up the text under your licence.
Questions
Can AI check fire safety under OIB guideline 2?
It can name the requirements with citations and read a drawing roughly against them. Piloti does both and says which of the two each answer is. The fire safety concept and the responsibility for it stay with the designers.
Why does Piloti ask for the building class first?
Because nearly every requirement in OIB guideline 2 hinges on it. A fire resistance class without a building class would be a guess. If the class is confirmed in the project, Piloti does not ask.
Which edition of OIB guideline 2 applies in my state?
Each state decides. According to the OIB overview (as of September 2025), the 2023 edition applies in Vienna, Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Carinthia, among others, and in Tyrol since 16 July 2026; where it is not declared, generally still the 2019 edition. Check your state’s building-technology rules, because transition rules can differ.
What is a fire compartment?
A part of a building separated from the rest by compartment walls and floors, so that a fire does not spread beyond it. How large it may be and what the separating elements must achieve is set by OIB guideline 2, depending on building class and use.
Read on
- GlossaryWhat is a fire compartment?
- Use casesDetermining the building class: GK 1 to 5 under OIB
- Use casesExisting buildings: what applies after conversion and change of use
- Building law by stateBuilding law in Vienna: Bauordnung für Wien, WBTV 2023 and OIB guidelines
- ComparisonsChatGPT or Piloti for building law?