Proposed Standard Focuses on Skylight Safety
An ASTM International subcommittee has formed a new task group to address skylights in a proposed standard, WK17797, Human Impact on Commercial Skylights. The new standard will be used to develop, formulate and improve standard methods of tests that simulate falls of people onto skylights and smoke vents for human impact resistance under natural conditions of exposure and to provide information for code and standards officials on which performance standards can be established.
According to J. Nigel Ellis, a member of ASTM International Committee E06 on Performance of Buildings and president, Ellis Fall Safety Solutions, the purpose of WK17797 is to bring together the skylight glass panel, plastic domes (bubble) and the metal buildings industries, along with other specialized industries whose products let light into buildings and are located in areas where these or other building features need maintenance.
"The proposed standard is meant to be a test method that the industry agrees will provide an adequate test for skylights to protect roof construction and maintenance workers from human impact fall-through, over an aging period that is yet to be decided," said Ellis, who noted that government regulators in agencies, including OSHA, and building code administrators, would be likely users of WK17797.
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