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Many Falls Caused by Design and Construction Defects
By Dr. Gary Presswood, PE | April 17, 2008
Local building codes mandate minimum standards of design in order to assure minimum levels of safety. For stairways and ramps, these standards are often assumed by a property owner to have been properly considered by the appropriate contractor during installation; however, rarely have I found correctly constructed or maintained stairways and ramps. If a building code requirement for a stairway or ramp is violated, an issue can often be made by an injured party (or their attorney) that the violative condition likely caused the accident being investigated. Attorneys like to refer to this as negligence per se.
Architectural and engineering plans for buildings most often refer to the appropriate building code in the plan’s General Notes as a way to circumvent having to draw numerous standard construction details. In the case of stairways, the steps are normally required to be constructed of a number of steps each of which must meet the critical dimensional requirements of the relevant building code. Likewise, ramps are required by most building codes to typically not exceed a 1 : 12 slope (read, “one to twelve”). Except for a few exceptions, handrails of specific height, length, and shape are required for both stairways and ramps,
I’m often surprised at the general lack of interest and knowledge of required standards by commercial property owners, maintenance personnel, and risk managers when it comes to assuring proper safety for their patrons especially along stairways and ramps. I may expect a property owner to lack the knowledge (but not the responsibility) to determine what is safe and what is not, but it seems that maintenance personnel who are the “rubber meets the road” people, should know these most essential and elementary safety requirements. What surprises me even more is, what my experience has shown to be, the ignorance of the vast majority of professional risk managers when it comes to knowing even the most minimal requirements for pedestrian safety!
Safety is not difficult to provide. It’s often very inexpensive especially if provided early, during the design and construction processes. The most critical issue is knowledge!
Topics: Building Codes, Construction Defects, Falls, Safety |