If your business uses a mezzanine floor, raised walkway, loading platform, or open stairwell, then one of the first things you will need to answer is how to stop people from falling. For facility managers and builders working with commercial and industrial buildings, wire balustrading is one of the most effective solutions, but it’s important to know why it’s preferred over solid panel alternatives.

In essence, wire balustrade systems consist of horizontal or vertical stainless steel cables that are tensioned between posts to form an elevated barrier. Unlike timber or glass panel barriers, wire barriers do not obstruct visibility. This is highly relevant in mezzanine factories due to the need for unobstructed views of the production line. Supervisors need to be able to see the action happening below, and wire balustrides provide that unobstructed view, while still complying with all building regulation load and height barrier requirements.

Projects often falter due to poor specification. Merely purchasing off-the-shelf wire and stretching it between available posts is grossly inadequate. Each post needs to be evaluated for wire spacing, width, tensioning hardware, attachments, and loading the barrier will encounter and the associated drop it will protect against. For example, a balustrade that protects a two-metre drop on a loading bay is an entirely different application to one that protects against a minor step change, even though the barriers may appear similar. The oversights often carry liability and legal risk, as barriers are only as strong as their weakest design feature, considering the chance that someone may put their weight against it.

Once the balustrade has been signed off, maintenance tends to be neglected. While stainless steel wire is corrosion resistant and will withstand the elements, the tension in the wire will slacken overtime, especially when light adjustments due to the flex of the posts caused by loading or underlying settlement occur. A visual inspection to determine if the wire is present will not identify the problem. Inspections must determine if the tension is still within the acceptable range, end fittings and turnbuckle adjustments are in their correct position, and whether the posts have shifted at their anchor points. Identifying these issues in the course of an inspection may cost less than neglected maintenance when it is catch early.

Procurement teams should not overlook the compliance aspect of this issue. Commercial buildings have different requirements for barrier heights and gaps than residential buildings, and there may be barriers required at drops in a commercial building that are not required at a drop in a residential building. Anyone involved in the specification of balustrading for warehouse extensions, new mezzanine storage decks, and offices above factory floors needs to ensure they are using the specific regulations pertaining to that building use and not applying a domestic stairway rule of thumb. If there is any doubt at all, it is far cheaper to engage a structural engineer or an approved inspector during the design phase than for any remedial work to be done after construction.

Wire balustrading meets the requirements for most manufacturing sites, timber yards, and steel stockyards that are adding mezzanine storage or office space. It meets commercial loading requirements, preserves sight lines across the workspace, and is easy to maintain once an inspection regimen is established. Balustrading should be treated as a specified safety system rather than as a standard product that will be ignored. This is what keeps the balustrading compliant for the lifetime of the building.