Print this page Design of Commercial / Industrial Guardrail Systems for Fall Protection
Brian M. McCaffrey, P.E.
Course Outline
This 2-hour course will introduce you to the principles of designing or evaluating guardrail systems in commercial / industrial applications for fall protection. The design of a simple guardrail system has become more complicated as there is no single guardrail design that will work for all situations. There are different functional Code requirements depending upon the local jurisdiction and the design engineer must interpret the latest version of these regulations and Codes and apply them to specific applications.
This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.
Learning Objective
At the conclusion of this course, the student will have learned the following:
- Code requirements for guardrail systems in commercial / industrial applications for fall protection;
- Proper selection of guardrail elements based upon material and physical properties, as well as environmental conditions;
- Load, stress, and deflection relationships for guardrail systems;
- Design of posts under uniform and concentrated loading;
- Design of rails under uniform and concentrated loading; and,
- Design of anchorage / fasteners for the base of the post.
Intended Audience
This course is intended for all engineers, architects, and construction professionals who are interested in gaining a better understanding of guardrail systems, their Code requirements, and how they are designed.
Benefit to Attendee
This course will introduce the principles of designing and evaluating guardrail systems.
Course Introduction
Whether in construction or general industry, a structural engineer may be called upon to design a new guardrail system or to evaluate the adequacy of an existing guardrail system in accordance with the Codes of the local jurisdiction. The design of a simple guardrail system has become more complicated as there is no single guardrail design that will work for all situations. There are different functional Code requirements depending upon the local jurisdiction and the design engineer must interpret the latest version of these regulations and Codes and apply them to specific applications.
Course Content
In this course, you are required to study the following PDF document.
Design of Commercial / Industrial Guardrail Systems for Fall Protection
Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.
You may need to download Acrobat Reader to view and print the document.
This course provides a procedure for designing or evaluating guardrail systems in commercial / industrial applications. A number of published methods, tables and charts from industry manuals, manufacturer’s engineering data, and Codes provide a good source of design information and criteria for guardrail systems. This course includes a design example for better understanding of the subject matter.
Quiz
Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.
DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.
