huangyhg

osha handrail or guardrail??
need an osha interpretation, permanent open steel framed industrial stairtower, four columns with vertical bracing, inside the tower are stair runs and landings. at the landings where the edge of the landing is at the vertically braced column lines, is the railing there according to osha "handrail" requiring a 1.5 inch clearance or is it guardrail that requires no clearance and can in fact be outboard of the vertical bracing.osha 3124 publication ( deals with temp. construction stairways) calls it guardrail.
client insists its handrail, has to be inboard of bracing with 1.5 inch clearance. i dont agree.
i can't help with the interpretation, but if the client prefers you interpret it as the more conservative option (handrail), why not give him what he wants?
have you contacted osha directly or reviewed their selection of letters of interpretation?
often, the question at hand has come up before, and osha has provided an official position.
in my work, i deal with temporary guardrails frequently and the term is used for construction purposes, not permaanent use.
it feels like your situation warrants a proper hand rail for the stair, but i cannot cite a code reference to push that.
good luck!
daniel
landings do not require handrails, only guardrails. handrails are only required where the elevation is changing, such as a stair or a ramp.
bagman2524's right on this one. the definitions he gives are literal in this context. a guardrail is something that stops you from falling off of an edge, a handrail is something you use to steady yourself while climbing/descending and require adequate hand clearances.
bagman and swearingen may be technically correct, but if the client wants this railing designed as a handrail, what's the problem? he's the one who is paying the bills and he is the one who will have to live with it. give the client what he wants.
bagman and swearingen thanks so much, you are 100% correct but its hard to come up with an actual osha code paragraph other than interpretation letter re: 1910.23e6 from 1995.
i think we cant cow tow to clients and do something that is not required, we are being reimbursed by them for our knowledge and if anything we should be "educating" them rather than doing unecessary and time consuming changes.
rfied112 said, i think we cant cow tow to clients and do something that is not required, we are being reimbursed by them for our knowledge and if anything we should be "educating" them rather than doing unecessary and time consuming changes.
wow.
i agree, always give the client what he/she wants, whether its' necessary or not. (assuming our course it doesn't violate a code or create a hazardous condition.)
most building codes differentiate between a guard and a handrail as swearingen discussed above. also note that a guard doesn't have to be a rail. it can be anything (wall, ornamental pattern, etc). that prevents a person falling off the level they're on to an adjacent lower level. most codes require guards where there is a drop off more than 30 inches. (4 ft under ohsa 1910.23e(1))
ohsa 1910.21 however uses the terms standard railing, stair railing and a handrail.
a standard railing is basically a guard.
a stair railing is basically a guard on the sides of a stair, that can also act as a handrail.
a handrail is a rail mounted to a wall to furnish people a handhold to prevent tripping and falling down the stair.
so going back to rfied112's orginal question. a standard railing is required around the platform, and it falls under ohsa 1910.23, guarding floor and wall openings and holes. i'd like to know where your client is coming up with 1.5" clearance for handrail. 1910.23e(6) requires 3" clearance for handrails and railings. it looks to me like this could be interpreted to apply to standard railings and stair railings as well as handrails.
bagman: under osha 1910.23 e 6 interpretations in osha.gov is a letter from 1995 where osha states that ansi a.12 is the source of their requirements and since ansi changed from 3 inches clear to 1.5 inches clear and also changed to clearance just for "stair" type railing osha was changing to match ansi and had published in the federal register as such (68:23568).
note that ibc 2003 is also 1.5 inches clear for handrail
thanks rfied112. i was unaware of this change.

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