Safety Codes: What’s the Difference Between IBC and OSHA Stairs? (2024)

Commercial Stairs Built for the General Public – IBC

The International Building Code (IBC) regulates any set of stairs the public uses, including any stairway connecting a building to a public space. These regulations must account for the safety of every type of person, including children and the elderly.

According to the IBC, stairways with an occupant load of fewer than 50 people must be at least 36 inches wide. Stairs over 12 feet tall require an intermediate landing in the middle of the stairway. These landings should be the same width as the stairway and extend at least three feet long.

Handrails and guards are mandatory for open-sided walking surfaces like stairs and elevated platforms. IBC-compliant stairs can’t have gaps between handrails or guards that could allow a four-inch sphere to pass through. This ensures a child’s head cannot pass through any section of the stairway, landing, or platform.

The IBC also dictates the rise and tread measurements for each individual step. Rise is the vertical height between any two adjacent steps and can be open (gap between the stairs) or closed ( a solid piece of material between stairs). The tread is the depth of the step itself. IBC-compliant stairs must have a closed riser between four and seven inches, and a tread of at least 11 inches deep.

If your workplace is open to the public, all stairways should adhere to these IBC guidelines.

Industrial Stairs – OSHA

Many businesses have private facilities. Stairs in these environments are not for public use. They can include factory floors and manufacturing spaces where only designated employees work. Therefore, they are not bound by the IBC.

Instead, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Fixed Industrial Stair regulations (1910.24) govern the design, construction, and use of interior and exterior stairs to access equipment, machinery, tanks, elevated platforms, other floors, or pits.

All of ErectaStep’s industrial stair systems (and all our products, for that matter) comply with industrial codes, and there are distinct features we build to make them OSHA-compliant.

These stairs are used in industrial settings, so they must be strong. OSHA-compliant stairs are designed to carry a load five times greater than anticipated but never less than 1,000 pounds. Both handrails and guardrails must be capable of withstanding a minimum of 200 pounds of pressure applied from any direction along the rails.

Like the IBC, OSHA dictates specific measurements. OSHA stairs are required to be a minimum of 22 inches wide. Rise and tread measurements are dictated by the angle of the stairway rise. For example, stairs manufactured with a 45-degree stairway rise must have a minimum rise and tread of 8.75 inches each. Risers for OSHA stairs are allowed to be open. Handrails and guardrails are mandatory, but gaps are allowed between rails since children will not use these stairs.

Adhering to these regulations not only keeps you OSHA compliant but also keeps your workers safe and productive. However, if both IBC and OSHA stairs keep employees safe, how do you decide which option is the best for your business?

View our complete guide to OSHA Requirements created by ErectaStep’s compliance experts

Less Space, Less Cost

Larger IBC measurements mean these stairs have a bigger footprint than OSHA stairs. As a business, you want the most value out of your facility’s limited space, so it pays to invest in equipment that requires less square footage.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison. In order to access a 12-foot-high platform, an IBC stair would need 21 steps (7-inch rise, 11-inch tread), making the entire horizontal run of the stairs 19.25 feet. Assuming the minimum width of 36 inches, the floor space used by these stairs is 57.75 square feet. That’s a lot of space used for a staircase! (Remember that any IBC stair higher than 12 feet must incorporate an intermediate landing area, taking up even more room.)

On the flip side, take ErectaStep’s stair system, which fully complies with OSHA’s codes. To access that same 12-foot platform with these stairs would require just 16 steps (9-inch rise, 9-inch tread), meaning the horizontal run would only be 12 feet long. Factoring in ErectaStep’s 26-inch width gives you a solution that uses 26 square feet of floor space — less than half the space required by an IBC stair to access the same platform.

Another key difference is cost. It takes less material to construct OSHA stairs since IBC stairs require closed risers and no gaps larger than four inches between handrails and guards. An OSHA-compliant solution can save thousands if the public doesn’t access your facility.

ErectaStep’s OSHA-compliant solutions require less space, cost less, and are completely customizable. The five components can be assembled in infinite ways, allowing you the flexibility to select a safety solution that will work best in your facility. We can customize individual measurements, like rise and tread, giving you the perfect configuration for your job site.

Regardless of the stair type, you’re looking for, be sure you speak with your vendor early about code compliance and what’s needed for your work environment.