AU
NZ
UK
RailEX® FRP Handrails White Paper
Index RailEX® FRP
- Testing & Engineering
- Stanchion / Post Spacing
- Connections to Existing Steel
- Fastener, Driver Type (SFK06-TL)
- Chemical Resistance
- Maintenance Inspection Regime
- Repair Strategies
- Fire Ratings & Approval
- References
- ATTACHMENT A – AS 1657 – 2018 Compliance Test Report / Product Evaluation Report
- ATTACHMENT B – AS 1657 – 2018 Compliance Test Report / Product Evaluation Report (Testing Of Guard Railing Comprising Rails and Posts)
- ATTACHMENT C – Typical Stanchion / Post Spacing Drawing
- ATTACHMENT D – Typical Connections to Existing Steel
- ATTACHMENT E – RailEX® Chemical Resistance
- ATTACHMENT F – Maintenance & Inspection Regime
- ATTACHMENT G – RailEX® ROUND FRP Handrail Maintenance Regime Checklist
- ATTACHMENT I – RailEX® ROUND FRP Handrail Assembly Guide
RailEX® FRP-GRP Handrail Guardrail Technical Selection & Overview
Testing & Engineering
Treadwell would like to reaffirm that the RailEX® ROUND FRP Handrail system has been tested to AS 1657 – 2018 and found to be fully compliant by ALS Industrial Pty Ltd of 450 Dynon Road, West Melbourne Victoria 3003, Australia. This organisation, which is a part of the ALS Laboratory Group, is a NATA accredited testing laboratory and has the necessary approval to test items to AS 1657, holding an Accreditation No: 218 and is registered Site No: 14308. The contact through whom the bulk of Treadwell’s discussions have been conducted over the years is Mr Chris Vines.
As a requirement of AS1657 – 2018 the Treadwell handrail system offers compliance to section 8.2 of the code and this is a mandatory requirement that the product is independently tested and found to comply with the rigor of AS1657 – 2018. It is advisable that companies such as yourselves ensure that all system certificates relating to handrails are supplied prior to any material arriving at site.
The test report, or product evaluation report, from the NATA accredited testing laboratory, confirming that the product complies with AS 1657 – 2018 has been included within this document – refer ATTACHMENTS A & B.
Stanchions or posts are significant in their role to stop deflection of the walkway handrail.
Stanchion / Post Spacing
All handrail/guardrail systems in Australia are required to be able to withstand the forces outlined within the applicable standard for walkway design, construction and installation – AS1657 – 2018, Appendix B (Testing of Guard Railing Comprising Rails and Posts).
Stanchions or posts are significant in their role to stop deflection of the walk way hand rail. With this in mind, it is relatively simplistic to comprehend that the closer stanchions are, the more force a handrail/guardrail will be able to withstand before it fails and gives way. However, for economic reasons, it is not viable to have excessive quantities of stanchions.
To this end, Treadwell has undertaken extensive testing to arrive at a conclusive maximum stanchion spacing and it can be affirmed that no ‘guardrail span’ between stanchions must exceed a 1,500mm (centres) maximum spacing – this must be respected and applied to all RailEX® installations regardless of whether they are all new or retrofitting to old or existing structures. To illustrate this, a comprehensive drawing has been developed and included within this document – refer ATTACHMENT C.
Connections to Existing Steel
Treadwell has developed a number of brackets to compliment the RailEX® ROUND FRP Handrail system and these have been specifically developed to retrofit to existing structural steel on industrial sites and adapt to typical monowills style stanchion mounting holes (2 of 12mm diameter holes spaced at 102mm centres).
These mounting brackets have been developed to comply with standards and Treadwell has undertaken in-house testing and conforms to AS 1657 – 2018.
Detailed drawings of how these brackets and the recommended connections are made to existing structural steel have been included within this document – refer ATTCHMENT D.
Since most industrial retro-fit applications are undertaken in scenarios where the existing structure comprises of mild steel, recommended insulation measures are also clearly displayed in the example drawings developed.
Based on Australian Standards 1657 - 2018, handrails must be visually contrasting to its surroundings.
Fastener, Driver Type (RXR-SFK06TL)
RailEX® fastener driver being a security screw and the drive, therefore being unusual or unique, this fastener has been designed for safety reasons (i.e. to ensure as reasonably as practicably possible that the product is and remains tamperproof following installation completion).
Treadwell has made every effort to ensure that this component is not an inconvenience, and has made both hand operated drivers and attachment drivers for use in power drills/electric drivers available.
Treadwell is also able to supply these fasteners with a more common drive type, i.e. ‘Philips’ or ‘Socket’ drive. This would be a special order and there would be a substantial minimum order quantity (i.e. 10,000 pieces).
Chemical Resistance
All RailEX® FRP handrail product components are typically produced from Treadwell’s V-Series® resin system. Treadwell has published data available to all clients related to the chemical resistance of the resin systems available and this is published in the RailEX® Product Guide from pages 23 to 27. To assist with locating this data, we have also included the chemical resistance guide within this document – refer ATTACHMENT E.
