The handcuff puzzle only took about 10 minutes and required everyone to actually work together (no quarterbacking).
Is it? How does this work? Are there regular checks and do escape rooms need to register or how are they discovered?
If it’s unsafe, they can close the business until the issues has been resolved.
I wouldn’t call it heavy enforcement, and it’s not perfect. People die in commercial fires not too infrequently in the US.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/ct...
https://cbs4indy.com/2019/04/29/messy-aisles-causes-speedway...
Though most all urban areas have enforcement, many smaller areas do not.
Oh, plans. Right, and then half of the shops put a (real steel) chain and padlock (or a large piece of furniture) on the emergency exit, or they use the exit stairway as storage. But indeed on the plans there is an emergency exit anyone can open if needed.
Unless you are the government. Then you can lock your fire exits and let your fellow bureaucrats die. It's the Chicago way.
Yes, you can just build a wall or a door, even in the USA. I've done it. It may not be according to code, but that's the very issue here: enforcement. Until someone dies, how do they know? Surprise inspections are exceptionally rare. There's just way too many buildings.
I've even had modifications "inspected" by the fire department, multiple times. I put that in quotes because I've only ever seen them count the number of automatic sprinklers in the building (which did not change), or look to see if we had fire extinguisher signs, and a fire extinguisher under each one.
I've even seen the FD (in a modern American city) respond to and put out an actual fire, and not care that the building did not match the permit plans.
I'm curious what your experience is, as there is no aspect of this which I would describe as "heavily enforced".
Don’t do it. Those plans and codes are there for a reason.
But then again I was a firefighter, so if I see a code violation I'll call the fire marshal. I expect other firefighters would do the same, off duty or not.
Good examples of sprawled cities include LA and Houston.
You can't have an emergency exit that locks, it must always be openable from the inside. You get huge fines for an emergency exit that is blocked in any way, and the fire inspectors will shut down your business until it is fixed.
The system isn't perfect but it works most of the time, fire deaths in the US are quite rare.