Industrial and Commercial Use Spiral Stairs and Different Codes

In our long history of designing, building, and installing spiral stairs, the team at Great Lakes Stair has seen some interesting industrial and commercial uses for spiral stairs. For example, we have installed numerous spiral stairs in theater settings on the side of a stage to access light rigging, camera lofts and curtain control equipment. We have installed spiral stairs in excess of 40’ tall for these types of applications. When working in theater applications like this spiral stairs are idea because of their small footprint relative to a straight staircase.

We have also installed spiral stairs around grain silos where there is not much room to wrap around the silo, we can go straight up a silo to save space.

Generally speaking, spiral stairs in industrial and commercial use situations are good solutions where an area is not accessible by the public; they are used with specific intent to gain access to an area used by the owners or tenants of the property. Anytime a spiral stair is being used by the public the codes will be different. If the spiral staircase is only used by the owner or occupant the codes will be different and more lenient.

Also, with commercial spiral stairs you have to meet certain ADA requirements for spiral stairs. For example, in a residential application, a single handrail will meet code for a spiral stair. But in a commercial application, handrails are required (an inner and an outer, or on both sides of the steps) to meet ADA requirements.

There are also regulations that take into account indoor and outdoor uses for spiral stairs in commercial applications. For example, in an exterior spiral stair application you will need to have step covers that will dissipate rain or snow easily like a grate rather than a wood cover because the rain or snow can pass through the grate.

When considering a spiral staircase for a commercial or industrial application, reach out to the experts at Great Lakes Stair. We can help you navigate the building codes and requirements for your application as well as offer recommendations from our extensive experience in working in commercial and industrial settings. We can show you photos of similar commercial or industrial spiral stair applications to help you visualize your application. There are a lot of considerations in these spiral stair applications, use our experience to get the best outcome!

We can save our customers time and money because in our 34 years, we’ve seen what works best, and what doesn’t and can help educate and guide our customers on their industrial and commercial spiral staircase project. 

Call today at 330-225-2005 or fill out the Free Project Review form on this page to get started.