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Child Safe Elevators

Getting a grip on the 3" & 5" Rule for Residential Elevators.

A recent Consumer Products Safety Commission Investigation was launched to determine the risk and solutions to any potential for Small children to become entrapped in a 5" space. Country Home
Elevators and Stair Lifts has been providing better solutions well in advance of this investigation.

The issue relates to the following:
1. Installation of Standard Residential door frames with 2"x4" jambs vs 2"x6" jambs.
2. The added cost and design criteria needed to offer flush frame door jambs & locking systems.
3. The development of new locking systems that can be installed in the frames or other locations that would no longer exist when the 3" gap is removed.
4. The use of Accordion fold & Scissors gates as a car door for the residential elevator
5. The potential for light curtains to be used as a Safety limit to assure that the gap was not blocked.
6. The use of Space guards to fill the gap on existing applications.
7. The requirement for Gate re-opening when a car arrives at a landing.
8. Meeting the new .75" & 4" rule. National standard for stair rail baluster spacing is to reject a 4" ball

9. Gate Deflection and rigidity requirements

Basis for 4" rule:

4. Baluster Spacing (Sphere Rule): The general rule is to install balusters and newel posts between the handrail and flooring materials so that a 4” sphere (the head of an infant) cannot pass through.

With the decrease from 6" to 4" in the Sphere Rule, many installations of two balusters per tread will not pass the new, stricter building codes. When the 4" Sphere Rule is combined with the new 10" Tread Run Rule, most stair installations will require three balusters per tread.

More to come on our Child Safe Elevator systems from Symmetry Elevating Solutions