Examination of the ICC Acceptance Criteria for Handrails and Guards

摘要

In 2017, the ICC Evaluation Service, LLC adopted AC273-Acceptance Criteria for Handrails and Guards to establish criteria for the testing and assessment of proprietary handrails and guard systems pursuant to issuance of evaluation reports under the International Building Code and International Residential Code. However, real-world test situations under code-level loads demonstrated the inadequacy of the deflection limits as set forth in AC273. This article presents an analysis of AC273, a discussion of the deflection limits already existing within the code, the results of real-world testing using an on-site test rig and code-level loading (with photos and tabulated results), and proposed revisions to the acceptance criteria. The information presented is of use to engineers designing handrails and may help them avoid undesirable handrail performance and potential claims.