Unlike other less prescriptive building codes, including the BCA in Australia, the IBC acknowledges the additional needs of people with disability during an evacuation of a building and considers the challenges that this user group may face when trying to exit a building during an emergency.

This is where the IBC stands out as a building code that considers the needs of people with disabilities, particularly those who are unable to exit via a vertical path (i.e. a fire escape stairway).