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Industrial Structure Information Blog

Category Archives: stairs

Posts regarding stair fabrications, installations, codes, laws and maintenance.

Bi-directional gates are not SAFETY gates

Safety gates can be confusing. Don’t let them be.

We often get calls from customers looking for bi-directional safety gates, i.e. gates that do not have a stop and swing both in and out. Often these customers are looking for gates for staircases to hang signage on in order to “restrict access” beyond certain floors in staircases. The problem is that these gates do not meet OSHA standards for fall protection. OSHA’s guard rail standard requires a top and mid rail and requires the gate to hold back a minimum of 200 lbs. of pressure at the top rail. By definition, bi-directional gates do not meet that requirement, especially when used at the top of stairs. The best option for these customers is to use a self-closing and self-stopping gate, similar to our AG series of gate.

Stair safety gate mounted with the orientation requiring user to pull the gate towards them to walk downstairs. Coming upstairs, the user would simply push through the gate.

When used at the top of stairs, these gates can be positioned to require anyone going down to a restricted area to pull the gate towards them and descend the steps. They can also be positioned at the bottom of the steps requiring anyone going up the steps to pull the gate toward them to ascend the steps.

What you cannot do, and what is not safe by any means, is to do the opposite. If you install a bi-directional gate at the top of a staircase and someone falls into it, odds are they are going to have a very bad injury.

Bi-directional gates are not fall protection. They can actually give a false sense of safety creating more accidents.

So take the extra second and install the proper gate for your location. Being safe is a LOT cheaper than cutting corners.

How to properly paint galvanized metal staircases and railings

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What is hot dipped galvanized metal and why do people use it?

Before we get into how to paint over galvanized metal, let’s give a really quick background into what hot dipped galvanizing is and why people would do it.

Stair parts being lowered into a bath of molten zinc

Hot dipped galvanizing is a process that involves dipping steel into a bath of molten zinc. This process creates a coating that is metallurgically bonded to the steel, in essence becoming the outer layer and part of the steel itself.

Stair components coming out of the zinc bath

The galvanized coating adheres to the steel at around 3600 psi, where other coatings, like zinc rich painting and zinc plating, adhere to the steel at a rate of 300-600 psi at best. The hot dipped coating has a hardness of between 170-250 DPH (Diamond Pyramid Hardness) as compared to the soft non-abrasion resistant coating of zinc rich paint or a 75 DPH hardness of zinc plating. This is important as it shows why hot dipped galvanizing is such a popular means of corrosion resistance as opposed to other coating options out there.

How do I paint over hot dipped galvanized steel?

If you are looking for a finish other than the shiny or dull galvanization finishes (there are cosmetic differences between each in luster, but no corrosion difference between the two), you would need to do a duplex, or two part, finish to your product: a hot dipped galvanized base layer and a painted top layer.

In order to paint galvanized metal you will need to first know whether the steel is:

newly galvanized (under 48hrs exposed, no zinc compounds built up on outside of steel),
partially weathered (day 2 to one year, some zinc compounds built up on outside of steel as well as possible dirt, grease, dust, etc.)
fully weathered (one year on, zinc compounds covering the entire surface.)

If the galvanizing is new you will need to profile the surface to give the paint something to adhere to. You will also need to grind down any bumps or drips that may be present from the galvanizing process as these will show through the paint. REMEMBER: Take care not to grind away the entire galvanized coating; using a hand grinder may be best practice to control pressure and grinding depth. For a partially weathered galvanized surface you will also need to remove any drips or runs, as well as the built up zinc compounds on the surface. For fully weathered surfaces you can skip those steps as the built-up zinc compounds are good for helping the paint adhere.

After you have profiled and/or prepped the surface you will need to clean the oil, dirt and other compounds from the steel. You can wipe down the handrails using a product like “simple green” to ensure there is no oil or other buildup on the material. Then you will need to use clean water to rinse the surface and dry it. Dry time to paint time should be kept to a minimum (under 12 hrs.) in order to avoid allowing any other contamination or build-ups to occur.

Stair crossover with yellow paint over galvanized steel handrails and stringers

What are some paints that are available for use over galvanized steel?

After the surface is clean and profiled you are ready to paint. A primer such as Sherwin Williams “pro-cryl” can be used. This primer dries fast and is corrosion resistant. You can top coat shortly after that with an acrylic coating paint like “DTM”. Check with your local paint supplier for additional options, as well as to get re-coat and cure times based on your temperature, humidity and paint thickness.

Outdoor Stairs for a Construction Trailer

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How to get safe permanent access to a construction trailer

Temporary wooden construction trailer stairs

Job site construction trailers are used all over. Some are temporarily placed in location and then relocated, and some are permanently stationed. The construction trailers can house offices, tools, machinery, electrical controls and more. Oftentimes, job site trailers will have temporary wooden stairs affixed, like the above photo. But what do you do when the construction trailer is actually in a permanent or semi-permanent location?

assembled metal stairs for construction trailer

Shop assembled job site stairs

We often get calls to fabricate replacement construction trailer stairs to replace temporary wooden steps. The stairs below were used with job site trailer that housed electrical control modules and needed a safe OSHA compliant means of access from two sides.

Close-up of removable handrail option

As the construction trailer had some large control modules inside, we supplied stair landings with handrails that can be unbolted, to allow ample access should any module need to be replaced. The stair railings were welded to the stair stringer to maintain a stiff, wobble-free grabbing surface. In an effort to help keep costs down on the project, the stairs were supplied with two support columns instead of four. This was achieved by bolting the platform edge of the landing to the existing structure, allowing for less steel to be used and a smaller concrete pad to be poured.

Bar grating decking allows dirt and snow to fall through – allowing for a safe, clear walking surface

Construction trailers are generally located outside in work zones, oftentimes lacking paved access to the doors. With that in mind, the stair treads and stair landing surfaces are most commonly constructed from bar grating. Bar grating is inherently self-cleaning; mud, dirt, rain and snow fall through the treads keeping them cleaner and safer to step on. The landing also has toe kick around the non-entry and exit locations. The 4” high toe guard stops tools and other items from being kicked off the landing. It also serves to stop a slipping foot from falling off the landing, potentially preventing a serious injury and employee downtime.

fully assembled construction trailer stair with galvanized finish for corrosion protection

Construction trailer stair with a galvanized finish for superior corrosion resistance

As for finish, hot dipped galvanized is one of the best, cost effective finishes to use when the stairs will be exposed to the elements. No chipping, peeling or blistering of the coating will happen. In fact, when the hot dipped galvanized surface is scraped to bare steel, it will ‘self-heal’. The zinc rich galvanized surfaces to the sides of the bare metal will sacrifice themselves to protect the base steel until all of the surrounding zinc is consumed. Hot dipped galvanizing also coats 100% of the structure because it is immersed in the zinc solution, as opposed to being painted on, which can miss hard to reach areas.

Adding a Platform Above an Existing Walled Off Space

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View from the side of the platform showing the cantilevered edge to carry the platform over the existing wall

By Derick

We were contacted by a customer who had an existing walled off area on their floor that they were using for long-term storage. They were running out of room and asked us to build a platform above it, as well as to span over another adjacent room to expand their storage space.

Overall, the platform was to be 42’ wide x 12’ deep in order to stretch over both rooms. We needed to maintain a 10’ clearance height under the platform to clear their existing walls, and the deck was designed for light storage at 125 lbs per square foot live load, which would accommodate their light shelving storage as well potential future pallet storage for pallets up to 4’x4’ and weighing up to 2000 lbs.

View from underneath the platform with the columns and OSHA stairs dropping into an existing walled off area

We had to be very careful with the positioning of our columns on this project because the customer didn’t want anything in front of the building that might interfere with their aisle way. We set the mezzanine columns back inside the existing room and extended our deck to the front of the building. Likewise, because the customer wanted to keep the stairs inside the footprint of the platform, the customer requested that we use an OSHA staircase as opposed to an IBC staircase. An IBC stair has a more gradual angle of decent with a 7” maximum rise for every 11” tread and requires an 11” handrail extension at the bottom (or in some locations, such as here in Ohio, 23”) An OSHA staircase with generally has around an 8” rise and 9” treads and does not require handrail extensions at the top and bottom. The IBC staircase would not leave them with sufficient room at the bottom between the handrail extensions and the columns to access the stairs, so the decision to go with OSHA freed up some space for them.

Top of deck view of the platform with unfinished Resindek field cut around customer’s existing ductwork and a 6’ bi-parting swing gate

For the decking we used a corrugated roof deck (painted reflective white) and skinned it with an unfinished ¾” Resindek LD. This gave the customer a nice smooth deck surface up top and was significantly less expensive than a metal deck. The framing was held off the main walls of the building by about 6”in order to clear the base plates centered under the columns, to clear some small ducts and an existing building column the customer had running up their building’s primary walls, as well providing the installers with enough room to bolt the framing together. The decking was then run beyond the framing back to the customer’s walls and trimmed in the field by the installers to go around the customer’s existing building column and ductwork.

Top of deck view showing internal OSHA staircase and unfinished Resindek field cut around customer’s existing building column

The materials were shipped out on a tarped dedicated flatbed, and were delivered the next day. The customer unloaded the materials and staged them indoors near the work area. They cleared out the room that we would be building in, and with no existing roof in the room that would otherwise need to be removed, they were all set for our installers. Installation began on a Monday morning, and everything was wrapped up with another happy customer by lunch on Thursday.

Using Crossover Stairs to Maneuver Around Conveyors

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By Brett @ A-Mezz

We were contacted by a customer who was looking for an easy way to circumvent a winding nest of conveyors so they would not have to serpentine around them, or worse, crawl over/under them. Some customized crossover stairs were just the ticket. We had to ensure that we did not interrupt the flow of traffic on the conveyor and next to the conveyor. Each crossover was fitted with front steps and rear steps when travel beyond the steps was necessary to let their employees have access to all four sides of the crossovers. The important thing was to increase mobility throughout the plant, while not cutting off areas they already had access to.

Each stair crossover was fitted with a 34” high handrail on one side and had closed diamond plate treads and decking to avoid slips and falls. Each platform was 30” high. Normally we’d just make the crossover level at the top so that you have less up and down when going across the conveyors, but the customer had some obstructions we had to work around. In the foreground of the photos below you can see that there are some control panels and electrical boxes for the conveyors that we had to keep clear. As we go higher with the mid platform we have to go longer with the stairs coming from the front and rear, which would then cause the stairs to interfere with those control panels, so the customer decided that they wanted the mid platform lower.

There was also the option to go without the mid platform and the crossover stairs coming from the front and rear of it. That was actually the original design, but their employees did not like having to walk up and down and up and down over and over – especially if they were carrying something with them. The mid platform being installed at a lower height was the compromise with regards to comfort, safety and available space.

The last photo in the set shows a location where the stair crossover was actually far enough behind the conveyor control panels to do a conveyor height platform with stairs coming from the front only. All of the crossovers were installed with the ability to be removed without too much difficulty should there be any faulty equipment that needs to be removed for repair or replacement beyond the stair.