A Complete Guide to Buying Knockdown Stairs for Your Factory
If you are trying to find the best industrial stairs for your factory or other industrial facilities, you may have many questions and concerns about quality, size, and standards. In that case, there is some excellent information on this page that can help you make an informed decision.
Here’s a complete guide to buying knockdown stairs for your facility so that you know what to look out for when researching options. Also, note that OSHA has a complete set of guidelines and health and safety standards that specific industries must follow when buying industrial stairs.
Why You Need Industrial Stairs
Taking the stairs every day at work may seem like no big deal, but it’s essential to have stairs available in an emergency. Suppose your factory has two stories of production lines, and all of the workers are upstairs during a fire or another emergency.
In that case, your workers will need access to an immediate safe exit without waiting for elevators. It only takes very little time for a fire to spread up an entire floor, so time is vital when working with emergencies.
Industrial stairs are particularly advantageous in factory conditions because they can be constructed from modular components and installed quickly and efficiently to provide a safe exit path of the upper floors. These staircases also help workers with mobility issues by providing a less physically demanding way to get around the facility.
If your factory is only one story, you may want to consider using aerial work platforms instead of knockdown stairs because they can provide more flexibility regarding entry/exit paths.
What Type of Materials Can You Use?
There are many materials that industrial stairs can be constructed of, but likely the best option is steel. Steel gives you the most durability for your money, and it does not rust easily (which is essential when you are talking about stairs that will potentially come into contact with water).
Another construction material that is commonly used to construct this type of staircase is aluminum. Aluminum may seem like a cheaper option than steel because it costs less on its own, but keep in mind that these staircases require corrosion-resistant coatings to ensure their structural integrity remains intact.
So even though aluminum itself is less expensive than steel, it’s more cost-effective to go with steel because you won’t have to factor in how much extra painting/coating will cost.
What You Need To Know About Knockdown Stairs
It’s important to remember that they will arrive in flat-pack form when you order your industrial stairs and need to be assembled. While building these staircases is not rocket science or anything like that, it can provide a good learning experience for employees in the factory (assuming the factory hires unskilled workers).
If you are considering buying knockdown stairs for your facility, then here are some essential things for you to keep in mind. These additional points will help you understand what to expect once your staircase arrives so it can get installed as quickly as possible.
How Soon Will Your Industrial Stairs Arrive
Each manufacturer has its specifications regarding how soon it should take for their knockdown stairs to arrive after placing your order. Some companies say that it will take up to eight weeks to deliver these staircases, but others can get them sent out much more quickly.
If you are on a tight schedule and need the stairs as soon as possible, make sure you inquire about how long the shipping process will take before you order anything.
How Much Room Will You Need To Build the Stairs
One of the most frequent concerns factory managers ask about industrial stairs is whether or not they need a large amount of factory room to build them.
Fortunately, installing this type of staircase does not require an excessive amount of space, even if your factory floor has multiple machines operating all around where you want to put the staircase. This means that you can have a safe exit path without having to rearrange the entire factory.
They will come packaged in a wooden crate, and it can be challenging getting these crates through doorways and up/down elevator shafts. To avoid any problems, make sure that there are no obstacles in the way that could prevent the delivery truck from getting the package where it needs to go.
Final Thoughts
If necessary, you may want to hire additional employees just for transporting these boxes from the loading dock up into your facility. Also, consider the cost and quality of the stairs before investing in them—review industrial stairs offered by different suppliers before choosing one.
