huangyhg

ibc handrail extentions for industial stairs ?????
hey brothers and sisters,
i have a question regarding the handrail extentions called out in the ibc 2003 1009.11.5
i'm a structural engineer working for the contactor in this case, and the design engineer is insisting on these 2 ft handrail extentions in an purely industrial building. these extentions are not practical, yet there are no exceptions in the code.
osha does not require these extentions in there "fixed industrial stair spec".
since i am not a member of icc i can not get a code interpratation, you got to pay for that.
anybody out there run into this?
also i'd like some clarification on the 7" riser and 11" tread requirement, again there is no exception for industrial, yet osha has a range for riser and tread dimensions way outside this.
it seems common sense to me, ibc needs to add these excepetions. these requirment are clearly not intended to industial, platforms, catwalks and the like, but for "means of egress" only
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if your building is an industrial type facility in where the public has no access, you can use osha to design your stairs. the rise/run criteria is a lot looser as well as the guardrail spacing requirements. just be sure that your building official knows that you are not designing using the ibc.
both the top and botttom handrail extensions and the 7" max riser / 11" min tread are required for ibc industrial stairs. the extensions are 12" horizontal at the top and sloped (same as stair) for one projected tread depth (i.e. 11" or more) the bottom. your best bet is as minorchord proposes. check with your code official to see if you can get by with using only ohsa and not using ibc.
notice first off that chapter 10 of ibc is dealing entirely with egress from buildings. if your stair falls under this classification, and ibc design is required, then you're stuck. but if your stair is not used for egress from buildings, then this entire chapter is not applicable to your case.
even so, my ibc 2003 shows a 12" extension in this section, not 2'.
thanks,
you are right it is 12" per 1009.11.5.
and i agree with your reference to "means of egress"
the part that leads to some confusion is in 1607.7.1 were they list load exeption for group f (factory and industrial) i would think they could do the same in chapter 10. but i guess, like you said it is implied because mech access stairs are not "means of egress"
thanks for the imput.
i just would like something official, because this comes up alot when you deal with professionals that have mostly commercial/residential experience.
i also had a local plan reviewer flag the same thing on a mechanical access platform. he even quoted the ibc chapter 10.
under ibc equipment platforms and the components that access them are basically considered part of the equipment. therefore, the components that access the equipment platform are non-means of egress. refer to section 505.5 of ibc. thus, anything such as a ohsa stair, a ladder or alternting tread stair can be used to access the equipment platform.

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