Industrial Walkway Regulations: Width, Guardrails and Flooring

An industrial walkway is any fixed route that lets people reach plant, machinery, roofs or storage safely: a platform around a tank, a gantry over a conveyor, a crossover above pipework, a walkway along a roof. In the UK it has to satisfy the Work at Height Regulations, and on machinery it is normally designed to BS EN ISO 14122. Here's what those ask for, and the design choices that follow.

Which rules apply

• The Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply to any work where someone could fall and be hurt. They put the duty on the employer to prevent falls, and a permanent walkway with proper edge protection is the most reliable way to do that for regular access.
• BS EN ISO 14122 (Safety of machinery – Permanent means of access to machinery) is the standard most industrial access steel is designed to. Part 1 covers choosing the type of access, Part 2 working platforms and walkways, Part 3 stairs, stepladders and guardrails, and Part 4 fixed ladders.
• Approved Document K of the Building Regulations sets guarding and stair rules inside buildings, and applies where a walkway or platform forms part of the building rather than access to a machine.
• Roof work has its own hazards. Fragile roof sheets and rooflights are a common cause of fatal falls, and a walkway that keeps maintenance traffic off them is one of the standard controls.

Your designer or engineer decides which standard governs a particular job. The figures below are the typical requirements, not a substitute for that design.

Walkway, stairs or ladder?

BS EN ISO 14122-1 chooses the type of access by how steep the climb is. A gentle slope is a walkway or ramp; steeper than that it becomes a stair, then a stepladder, and only the steepest climbs are made with a fixed ladder, caged where the climb is high.

Stairs are preferred over ladders wherever people go often or carry tools and materials. A cat ladder suits occasional access, for inspection or to reach roof plant.

Width and headroom

There's no single right size. The standard sets minimums, and the right width and headroom depend on how many people use the route, whether they pass each other, what they carry and whether it's an escape route. Every walkway we make is sized for its own site and use.

Pipework, cable trays and steel members that cut into the headroom are the usual problem on an existing site, which is why we survey before we design.

Guardrails and toe boards

The edge protection is what stops a walkway being a hazard in its own right.

• Guardrail: a top rail at a height set by the standard that applies, wherever someone could fall from the edge.
• Knee rail: an intermediate rail, so nobody can slip under the top rail.
• Toe board: a kick plate at floor level, to stop tools and parts being kicked off the edge onto people below.
• Gaps and gates: where a walkway meets a ladder, the opening is protected with a self-closing gate rather than left open.

The heights, gaps and loads come from BS EN ISO 14122-3 on machinery and from the Work at Height Regulations and Approved Document K elsewhere, and we design each job to the one that applies.

Flooring

Flooring	Best for	Watch for
Open-mesh grating	Most industrial and external walkways: sheds water, oil and snow, lets light through	Small items can fall through
Serrated grating	Wet, oily or icy routes	Slightly harder to keep clean
Chequer (durbar) plate	Where people work underneath, or nothing must fall through	Holds water and can be slippery when wet

Grating openings are kept small enough that nothing dangerous falls through; where people work directly below, a finer mesh or a solid plate is used. Panels are sized to the span and load and clipped down so they can be lifted for maintenance.

Loads

A walkway is designed for the people on it, and for whatever else it will carry: tools, materials, equipment being moved for maintenance, and anything hung from it, such as pipework or cable trays. BS EN ISO 14122 sets minimum design loads, but a route used to move heavy parts needs more. Tell your fabricator what will actually go across it.

Finish

Industrial and external walkways are normally hot-dip galvanised, which protects the steel inside and out and needs little maintenance. Guardrails can be powder coated on top in a safety colour. Internal platforms in dry areas can simply be painted. See galvanising vs powder coating for how the finishes compare.

Installing in a live site

Most walkway work happens in factories, plant rooms and warehouses that are still running. The usual approach is to:

• survey the route and the obstructions first;
• fabricate in sections sized to get through doors and around plant;
• bolt together on site, avoiding welding and hot work where possible;
• plan the installation around shutdowns, weekends or quiet periods.

What affects the cost

There's no price per metre that holds across jobs. The main drivers are the length and height, how many supports reach the ground and what they fix to, the flooring and guardrail specification, any stairs, ladders or gates, the finish, and how hard the site is to work in.

What to tell your fabricator

• what the walkway gives access to and how often people will use it;
• the route, heights and anything in the way, with photos or drawings;
• what will be carried along it, and anything it has to support;
• inside or outside, and the conditions (wet, oily, corrosive, food areas);
• when the site can be worked in.

We design, fabricate and install steel walkways, gantries and access platforms, with handrails and guardrails, access stairs and cat ladders, fabricated in our Peterlee workshop to UKAS-approved EN1090-1 Execution Level 3. Get in touch for a quote.

Frequently asked questions

How wide should an industrial walkway be? Wide enough for the people and loads that use it. The standard sets minimums, but the right width depends on traffic, what's carried and whether it's an escape route, so we size every walkway for its site.

How high should a walkway guardrail be? High enough to meet the standard that applies to the job, with a knee rail and a toe board. We design the guarding for each walkway rather than using a stock size.

When does a walkway need a guardrail? Wherever someone could fall from an open edge. On roofs and near fragile surfaces, edge protection is needed whatever the height.

Is grating or chequer plate better? Grating for most industrial and outdoor walkways, because it drains and grips. Chequer plate where people work underneath or nothing must fall through.

Do walkways need inspecting? Yes. As with any access equipment, check them regularly for damage, corrosion, loose fixings and missing flooring clips, and after any impact or alteration.