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Youtube University2025 Class B Study Guide

What is the 2025 Class B Study Guide?

Section: Occupancy Classification

  • The designation of the primary purpose of a building, structure or portion thereof
  • A label for a building, structure or portion thereof
  • Determines the baseline set of safety rules the building must follow
  • There are 10 main occupancy groups: A, B, E, F, H, I, M, R, S and U
  • Identifies the primary thing people are doing in a building
  • Helps identify the building, structure or portion thereof’s occupancy group
  • Example: People doing business
  • A specific activity that happens inside a building that is supportive of the building, structure or portion thereof’s primary use
  • Not the main reason the building exists
  • Must have "similar hazards and risks to the occupancy group, or else the building, structure or portion thereof will get a different occupancy classification
  • Examples: Break room, IT closet
  • Occupancy Group = Assembly
  • Building, structure or portion thereof that is used for the gathering together of 50 or more people
  • Examples:
    • Movie theater
    • Museum
    • Dance hall
    • Library
  • Occupancy Group = Business
  • Building, structure or portion thereof that is used for office, professional or service transactions
  • Examples:
    • Post office
    • Animal hospital
    • Bank
    • Car wash
    • Drinking or eating establishment with an occupant load less than 50 people
  • Occupancy Group = Education
  • Building, structure or portion thereof that is used for more than six people at any one time for educational purposes through the 12th grade
  • Occupancy Group = Factory
  • Building, structure or portion thereof that is used for assembling, disassembling, fabricating, finishing, manufacturing, - packaging, repair or processing operations that are not classified as Group H or S
  • Examples:
    • Bakery
    • Furniture Factory
  • Occupancy Group = High Hazard
  • Building, structure or portion thereof that involve the manufacturing, processing, generation or storage of materials that constitute a high fire, explosion or health hazard
  • Examples:
    • Repair garage
    • Flammable gas manufacturing
    • Combustible liquid storage
  • Occupancy Group = Institutional
  • Building, structure or portion thereof that involve the:
    • Care or supervision of people who are incapable of self preservation without physical assistance
    • Detention or people for penal or correctional purposes in which the liberty of the occupants is restricted
  • Examples:
    • Hospital
    • Nursing home
    • Prison
  • Occupancy Group = Mercantile
  • Building, structure or portion thereof that involve the display and sale of merchandise to the public
  • Examples:
    • Department store
    • Drug store
    • Greenhouse for display and sale of plants that provides public access
  • Occupancy Group = Residential
  • Building, structure or portion thereof that is used for sleeping purposes
  • Contain sleeping units or more than two dwellings where the occupants are primarily transient
  • Examples:
    • Motel
    • Hotel
    • Boarding house w/ more than 10 occupants
  • Contain sleeping units or more than two dwellings where the occupants are primarily permanent
  • Examples:
    • Apartment house
    • Congregate residences w/ more than 16 occupants:
      • Dormitory
      • Monastery
      • Convent
  • Living arrangement where residents have their own private sleeping rooms (or small private living spaces) and share common facilities like kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms and bathrooms with the other residents
  • Where people live in a supervised residential environment that provides personal care services
  • Examples:
    • Halfway house
    • Drug abuse recovery facility
    • Residential care facility for the elderly
  • CDCR (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) facilities for nontransient (residents live here for extended periods) ambulatory participants (there on own free will)
  • CDCR residential homes w/ supervision and support services
  • Ambulatory
    • Able to walk and move around on their own
  • Nonambulatory
    • Not completely flat in bed, but they cannot move to an exit without a staff member physically pushing them or carrying them
  • Bedridden
    • Confined to bed at all times
  • Examples:
    • Single family home
    • Duplex
    • Care facilities for five or fewer people
    • Congregate residences w/ 16 or fewer occupants:
      • Dormitory
      • Monastery
      • Convent
  • A small, licensed nursing home or group home for six or fewer residents at any age
  • Examples:
    • Residential care facilities for the elderly
    • Intermediate care facilities for developmentally disabled people
  • Medium sized group homes, assisted living facilities or rehab centers
  • Building, structure or portion thereof for six to sixteen ambulatory residents who reside in a supervised environment, receive custodial care and are capable of self preservation
  • May have up to six residents who are nonambulatory or bedridden, but if it does, much stricter fire-safety rules apply
  • Staff helps residents w/ their everyday basic living needs (e.g., bathing, dressing, eating, taking medications, going to the bathroom)
  • Can physically and mentally get themselves out of the building and to a safe place outside during a fire or emergency without any physical help from staff
  • Occupancy Group = Storage
  • Public parking garages or building, structure or portion thereof that involves the storage of items that are not hazardous
  • Occupancy Group = Utility
  • The building code's "miscellaneous" or "utility" category
  • Covers buildings and structures that don't fit neatly into any other category
  • Buildings and structures of an accessory character and miscellaneous structures not classified in any other specific occupancy
  • Examples:
    • Carport
    • Retaining Wall
    • Shed
    • Garage
    • Barn
    • Fence over 7 feet tall
    • Greenhouse
    • Tanks
  • Accessory means:
    • Secondary
    • Subordinate
    • Serving the main purpose of the property
  • The primary building on a property is the main house where people sleep, eat, and live (which is an R-3 occupancy)
  • An accessory structure is a "helper" building whose sole reason for existing is to support the main house or the main use of the land
  • Occupancy Group = Laboratories
  • Building, structure or portion thereof that contains one or more laboratory suites
  • Occupancy Group = Organized Camps
  • Site with programs and facilities established for the primary purpose of providing an outdoor group living experience with social, spiritual, educational or recreational objectives, for five days or more during one or more seasons of the year