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Climbing heightis the vertical distance between the horizontal ground level and the horizontal platform or landing. |
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Goingis the horizontal distance between he nosing* of two consecutive steps. |
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Headroomis the plumb-vertical distance between the nosing* of two consecutive steps. |
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Riseis the height difference between two consecutive steps. |
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Platform length |
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Overlapis how far a step extends over the step below. This is based on the difference between the depth of step and the going. |
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Pitchis the angle between the pitch line and the horizontal ground level. |
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Width of flightis the distance between two strings. |
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The pitch lineis produced by laying a ruler across all the nosing* in a stairway. |
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Depth of stepis the total depth of a step from the nosing* to the rear top edge of the same step. |
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Clearanceis the distance above the pitch line – as measured at a right angle to the pitch line – that should, if possible, be kept free of all obstacles. |
* The nosing is the front upper edge of a step.
The hand-rail is the uppermost part of a guard-rail that is close to hand. The knee-rail runs in parallel with the hand-rail. Vertical columns or balusters can also be used for this purpose, but are uncommon and unnecessary in an industrial environment. Foot-rails stop objects from falling off platforms. They are not required on stairways. The vertical components used to secure a platform or stairway are called stanchions.
Stairways have a pitch of up to 45º. They are required as a means of accessing stationary working platforms.
Machine steps and stepladders have a pitch from upwards of 45º to a maximum of 70º. The use of these steps is permitted only when it is not possible to install a stairway due to operational reasons, e.g. because a stairway would narrow a traffic route, adjacent workstations of different heights are connected, or a stairway would prevent access to resolve a malfunction.
Ladders have a pitch of 70º to 90º and may be used only when the use of stepladders is not possible for technical and operational reasons.