In addition to IBCs, OSHA also has minimum strength requirements for guardrails. OSHA requirements state that guardrails must be able to withstand at least 200 pounds of pressure applied directly to the structure. This standard becomes all the more important for guardrails installed in industrial environments. Simplified Safety was very familiar with OSHA requirements and provided a product that would meet OSHA requirements. Customer service was great. CRI 2000 (Table IRC R301.5) and other typical building codes require that a ramp or handrail be able to withstand a concentrated load of 200 pounds applied along the top in each direction, while some local codes still in effect indicate a smaller load of 20 pounds per linear foot. This is in response to your letter of 18. July 2017, in which you ask the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to answer a specific question about the need for a safety factor when designing handrails and top rails. The question relates to 29 CFR § 1926.1052 (c) (5): Do you have specific regulations for the construction of balcony handrails with dynamic charging power? Because the dynamic load force is usually higher than the statistical load, as you know, Regards, – Anonymously by private e-mail The IBC clearly defines the different requirements for handrails and commercial railings in commercial buildings. Since their first publication, international building regulations have formed the basis for all guardrail requirements.
The International Code Council is also responsible for updating the IBC Code and reviews and proposes amendments every three years. While ramps and handrails look similar and perform the same general function – fall protection – the actual definition and requirements of the code vary widely. Unlike handrails, guardrails are designed as life-saving devices near metal steps, platforms, openings, accessible roofs or other hazards. @Anonymous in Japan You raise a very interesting point and argue in favour of it, which seems logical to me and is not addressed in the model building regulations. In fact, some of the most horrific accidents I`ve investigated have been failures of handrails and guardrails (or their absence). However, I`m not sure we have a clear idea of how fast someone is rushing to a handrail, or if all of their body weight is applied when they grab it at that moment. Where most or all of the body weight is applied to the rail is when someone tries to stop a fall that has begun. By the way: General comment on falls and strength: (I`m not a physicist) Just two weeks ago, I fell myself and walked on a flat roof made of EPDM (*rubber). My subjective sense of time was less than a second. I left and then in “zero” time, wham! I was on my back on the roof. The roof surface had a layer of algae and was wet.
The static coefficient of friction of wet algae is one of the lowest substances known. If it had been a staircase, I wouldn`t even have had time to grab the handrail. If I had fallen against a guardrail, it would have been 175 pounds of static force + the momentum that could be reached through the space between me or a hand or torso and the railing. In stairwells, people are only the width of the stairwell of the handrail. On a large balcony or terrace, that distance could be much greater, but I think it would be rare for someone to run up to the guardrail and crash into it. It will be instructive to examine current research evidence on the contribution of impulse to handrails and guardrails. By the way, another handrail mistake I experienced last year was a complete loss of the handrail`s connection to the wall in a private house when a heavy occupant sitting on the bottom step pulled the handrail to lift himself upright. It seems to me that, at least in the United States, handrail supports, which are widely used in hardware stores, can have serious deficiencies in strength. The stair user broke the handrail support closest to his hand, and the railing then detached from the wall. This observation in the field prompts me to draw attention to manual connections and guardrails. When I was shopping at a Home Depot store a few months ago, as I was preparing to add a handrail along a staircase, I looked at two types of handrail supports available – I bought the stronger of the two, but note that the stronger units were hard to find and much more expensive. No normal carpenter or railing installer would consider the possibility of the mounting system being as weak and dangerous as I found it.
Section 1015 of the International Building Code deals specifically with the use of guardrails.