Stairways (Construction) across the state plans

Stairways are adopted federal text at the current version: 19 inches to trigger a stairway or ladder, 30 to 50 degrees of pitch, stairrails from four risers or a 30-inch rise. Alaska's own additions in this area concern the season rather than the structure: under 8 AAC 61.1015, an establishment closed at year end because it runs on a seasonal schedule posts the annual injury summary no later than 15 days after it reopens, and keeps it up for 90 consecutive days or, if the season is shorter, the whole of it. It is a small rule and a distinctly Alaskan one.

Stairways are adopted federal text at the February 24, 2021 cut-off: 19 inches to trigger a stairway or ladder, 30 to 50 degrees of pitch, stairrails from four risers or a 30-inch rise. Arizona left Subpart X alone. What differs from federal practice is reach rather than content: the construction adoption applies to all employers, both public and private, so a state or municipal crew building its own stairway is inside the same standard as a contractor.

“Stairways … shall be equipped with stair rails, handrails, treads, and landings.”

Federal 1926.1052(c)(1) requires a handrail and a stairrail system only once a stairway has four or more risers or rises more than 30 inches. Section 1626(a)(1) states the duty flat, with no riser threshold, and adds a 24-inch minimum width the federal section does not state. Temporary-stairway landings must extend at least 24 inches in width against the federal 22, on the same 30-inch depth and 12-foot rise interval. The 30-to-50-degree pitch rule and the quarter-inch variation limit on risers and treads are identical on both sides.

Stairways are incorporated federal text in Hawaii: 19 inches to trigger a stairway or ladder, 30 to 50 degrees of pitch, stairrails from four risers or a 30-inch rise. Hawaii did not rewrite Subpart X. The duty that changes the paperwork is §12-110-3: written records of the daily safety and health inspections, on a project where the number of designated inspectors scales with headcount. A stairway defect found on a Tuesday is expected to appear in a record, and projects of fewer than three persons are the only ones excused.

“When a building or structure has only 1 point of access between levels, that point of access shall be kept clear to permit the free passage of employees. When work must be performed or equipment must be used such that the free passage of employees at that point of access is restricted, a second point of access shall be provided and used.”

Michigan writes stairways into Part 21, "Guarding of Walking and Working Areas," rather than adopting 1926 Subpart X. The numbers a contractor knows survive (access at a break in elevation of 19 inches, stairs between 30 and 50 degrees, landings 30 inches deep and 22 inches wide every 12 feet of rise) but R 408.42127(2) and (3) add a duty with no federal counterpart: keep a point of access clear, and open a second one whenever work or equipment blocks the only one. R 408.42128 also requires the stairway fall protection to be installed before the work that makes the stairway necessary begins.

“semifinished permanent stairways or temporary stairways to a second floor are to be in place before supports or structure to the sixth floor are raised. Similarly, the supports or structure on multifloored buildings shall never be more than five floors ahead of stairways.”

Minnesota adds a sequencing rule to the federal stairway requirements that has no counterpart in 1926 Subpart X: structure may never run more than five floors ahead of the stairways serving it. The rule is written as an addition, "in addition to the requirements of" the federal section, so 1926.1052 still applies in full, and the state rule sits on top of it. It is a scheduling constraint as much as a safety one, and it is the kind of requirement a general contractor discovers late if the project plan was built to federal rules alone.

Stairways themselves follow the federal standard in Nevada. What changes is the project around them. Before construction begins on a qualifying project the general contractor or owner gives the Chief written notice of the height, square footage, type of construction, total cost and location, and may be called to one or more meetings. On any structure more than 60 feet above ground or 48 feet below it, an elevator or personnel hoist must be installed for transporting workers, subject to an approved alternative means of access. Neither duty exists federally, and both are triggered by the project's size rather than by the work being done.

Stairways are incorporated federal text at the July 1, 2018 edition: 19 inches to trigger a stairway or ladder, 30 to 50 degrees of pitch, stairrails from four risers or a 30-inch rise. Utah added nothing to Subpart X. It did add a posting requirement that applies at the same location: a conspicuously posted list of emergency telephone numbers or addresses covering responsible supervision, doctor, hospital, ambulance, fire department and sheriff or police. It is a short rule and an easy one to miss on a jobsite whose posting board was built from a federal checklist.

“You must provide stairways, ramps or ladders at all points where a break in elevation of 18 inches or more occurs in a frequently traveled passageway, entry or exit.”

Washington sets the access trigger one inch below the federal one: 1926.1051(a) requires a stairway or ladder at a break in elevation of 19 inches, WAC 296-155-477(1)(d) at 18. The section then adds requirements 1926.1052 does not carry at all: permanent or temporary stairways in any building or structure two or more stories or 24 feet in height or depth; a second stairway once a structure passes three stories or 36 feet; and, in wood-frame work, the stairway to a floor completed before the studs supporting the next floor are raised. The 30-to-50-degree pitch rule is the same as the federal one.