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Today I am thinking about the fire marshals who have to deal with the customer service hell that is enforcing fire code at large cons. Like, imagine trying to keep a straight face while explaining to someone in a guy fawkes mask that, no, room occupancy limits are not a social construct, the building will literally cave in on itself if everybody attends this panel on macOS malware

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@Dio9sys i thought occupancy limits were more about being able to safely evacuate the room in case of an emergency

although i guess it does make sense, humans do weigh quite a bit

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@charlotte It depends on the venue and the crowd. I was at a furry con once where it was strictly about being able to leave the room in the case of an emergency. I was at an event recently that had an attendee cap because the dance floor was on a mezzanine and would quite literally break and crumble if too many people got on it and started jumping

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@charlotte oh, one more example: when I helped run a pride festival, the festival was outdoors. We still had fire code to worry about, despite having no enclosed rooms or fences, because in that case it was about the ability for first responders to get to someone if they have a heat stroke mid-festival. Fortunately that never happened!

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@charlotte @Dio9sys I have worked in an office building with a meeting room rated "Max 20 people" before now. There was obviously room, so we squeezed 24 people into it and, five minutes in, the door fell off.

Turns out the door was a slab of glass hinged with pins pointing up into the ceiling and down into the floor,and the additional weight spread floor and ceiling apart _just enough_ to clear the length of both pins.

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Granted, it was a temporary building made from ISO container frames and sheet metal, but it was a ... memorable ... experience (thankfully someone caught the door, so it didn't shatter).

Fire codes mean it when they say it, nine times in ten, and the source of the danger isn't always obvious.

(This was "Systems House" in Cambridge UK, in 2019 - I wonder if there are pictures...)

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