Guardrail is to provide edge protection at the edge of a floor,?platform, or walkway. The handrail is a rail that provides a handhold on a platform, walkway, stairway, or step ladder. Guardrails can be designed to be suitable for use as a handrail.
- The height of a handrail above the floor or the nosing of a stair tread shall be between 900mm and 1100mm. Where fall from height is significant it is recommended to increase the height of the guardrail to at least 1000 mm.
- Where circular metal handrails are provided, the external diameter shall be 30mm to 65mm.
- Where square or rectangular handrails are provided, the sum of height and width shall be 70 mm to 100mm.
- Unrestricted movement of the user’s hand along the upper surface with a minimum hand clearance of 50mm, with no sharp edges or other features that could cause injury to the user.
- Guard railing?shall consist of a top rail and a knee rail both parallel to the floor, walkway or platform. Distance between the knee rail and the floor to be ≤ 560mm. Where toeboards have used the distance between the knee rail and top of the toeboard to be ≤ 450mm
- A toeboard shall be installed if there is a gap greater than 10mm from a permanent structure. Or if falling objects create a hazard to personnel accessing the area below.
- Any gap between the underside of the toeboard and the walkway surface shall be within 10mm. The top of the toeboard shall be a minimum of 100mm above the floor.
- Guardrails shall be designed to sustain a single acting force of 600 N or 350 N/m acting outwards or downwards at any part of the system. No part of the system shall deflect elastically by more than 100mm under the imposed load.
- Other loads to be considered when designing the system are forces imposed by wind loading.
- Any part of the toeboard shall withstand a horizontal force of 100N, with no elastic deflection greater than 30mm and no gap greater than 10mm to be exposed between the inside face of the toeboard and the edge.
