Do you really believe everything that the government says as the gospel? A lot of these business owners & landlords  do a real tap dance around the Fire Inspectors to get out of a code violation. The city nor the state have the resources to enforce the code & I have gone numerous times into a business & noted a violation & reported it to the fire inspectors Your safety isn't on the agenda of any business. The only thing is money. A number of businesses block the exit's at night during business hours & that is very much against the law. If its marked as an exit, its got to be available & not blocked for exit from inside. It can be locked from ingress  but has to have a crash bar or way to exit so as to not create a body pile at the exit. Its all pretty much common sense.