The U.S. General Service Administration (GSA) manages thousands of federal properties, the design and construction of new buildings and the renovation of existing ones. One aspect of this mission is determining what fire safety and life safety systems to include in construction or renovation projects. While GSA generally meets or exceeds local building standards in a cost-effective way, the lack of quality research data makes it very difficult to determine the performance of current or new systems. To address this problem the GSA has funded the Engineering Laboratory (EL) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop performance requirements and data suitable to support the design and acceptance of cost-effective elevator and stairwell systems that provide for efficient and timely evacuation of occupants including those with disabilities, and that facilitate more efficient fire department operations.