What are Life Safety floor plans, why are they significant, and what is the required content?

Any examples are for illustrative purposes only. 

Life Safety drawings are floor plans of the building that identify life safety features as required by NFPA 101 (2012 edition) Life Safety Code.  They are used during the survey as a reference tool by the life safety code surveyor to determine whether the built conditions are in compliance with (and are maintained to) the way the building was designed to protect occupants from being harmed due to fire.  Because many health care facilities have occupants that are mostly incapable of self-preservation because of age or illness, the buildings require several types of fire safety features which are identified on the drawings.

LS.01.01.01 EP3 requires that “the hospital/organization maintains current and accurate drawings denoting features of fire safety and related square footage. Fire safety features include the following:

• Areas of the building that are fully sprinklered (if the building is partially sprinklered)
• Locations of all hazardous storage areas
• Locations of all fire-rated barriers
• Locations of all smoke-rated barriers
• Sleeping and non-sleeping suite boundaries, including the size of the identified suites
• Locations of designated smoke compartments
• Locations of chutes and shafts
• Any approved equivalencies or waivers”