Every plant has a spot somebody has to get to that the building did not plan for. The top of a mixer, the far side of a conveyor, the valve bank above the tanks, the storage space that is wasted air above the shipping floor. A ladder and a good reach is how it gets done until the safety audit, and then the call comes to us. Platforms, stair towers, catwalks and mezzanines are a steady part of the work at our Burlington shop, and they are a good example of a job where the welding is the easy part.
What Counts as an Access Structure
Work platforms. A raised deck with stairs or a ladder and guardrail all round, put beside or over equipment so the people maintaining it stand on steel instead of a ladder. The platforms in the photo above were built for a manufacturer that needed operators at the top of a line all shift.
Stair towers and crossovers. Stairs with landings up to a platform, or a stair-over-stair crossover so people can get across a conveyor or a pipe run without climbing on it.
Catwalks. Long, narrow walkways along the top of tanks, bins, silos and overhead equipment, with handrail both sides and grating underfoot.
Mezzanines. A second floor inside the building, carried on columns, used for storage, offices, or more production space. A mezzanine is a structure in its own right and is treated that way by the building department.
What an Inspector Is Looking For
A platform people stand on at work is covered by the Industrial Establishments regulation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and the inspector or auditor will check the same handful of things every time: a guardrail with a top rail, a mid rail and a toe board at the heights the regulation sets, a stair with a consistent rise and run and a handrail, grating or plate that is fixed down and does not shift, and a structure that was designed for the load rather than guessed at. A mezzanine adds the Ontario Building Code on top, which means a permit, a stamped design and welded steel from a shop certified to CSA W47.1. Our shop carries that certification, and it is one of the first things a general contractor asks for before they will put a steel structure on their job.
The practical point is that an access structure needs a drawing before it needs a welder. If you have an engineer, we build to their drawings. If you do not, we work with an engineer we know who stamps this kind of structure regularly, and we get the design settled before any steel is cut. Guessing at a beam size on a mezzanine is how a shop ends up rebuilding it.
Built in Sections, Bolted on Site
Nothing on this list fits through a plant door in one piece, so nothing is built that way. A platform is designed as frames, stair runs, handrail panels and deck sections with bolted splices, sized to the truck, the door and whatever lifts it on site. The columns, beams and frames are cut, formed and welded here under the overhead cranes, trial-fitted on the floor so the bolt holes line up, then taken apart and shipped. On site it goes together with bolts and a level. A structure that was assembled once in the shop is the difference between an afternoon install and a week of field welding and grinding.
Grating, stair treads and handrail come in the standard patterns: open bar grating or checker plate for the deck, pipe or tube handrail, bolted toe boards. Where the platform sits in a washdown area or a food plant, the whole thing can be built in stainless instead of carbon steel.
Finish Depends on Where It Lives
An interior platform in a dry plant gets primed and painted, or powder coated for a harder finish, with safety yellow on the handrail if the customer wants it. Anything outside, on a loading dock, or in a wet process area is hot dip galvanized so it does not need repainting, and the sections are designed up front to fit the galvanizer's kettle. We covered the choices in metal finishing for fabricated steel. The finish is decided at the drawing stage, because it changes how the sections are split.
Repairs and Changes to What You Already Have
Not every job is a new structure. A bent handrail post from a forklift, a stair tread that has rusted through, a platform that needs extending two metres because the equipment under it grew, or a mezzanine that needs a new stair because the old one lands in the wrong place now. Bring the damaged section or send photos and measurements and we fabricate the new piece to bolt in. Since customers bring the work to the shop here at 3485 Mainway, having the old part on the bench makes the new one fit the first time.
What to Send for a Quote
A drawing if you have one. If you do not, send photos of the area, the height to the deck, the floor space you have for the footprint and the stairs, what the platform is for and roughly what will sit on it, and whether it lives indoors, outdoors or in a washdown area. Tell us if a permit is involved. We quote the steel, the fabrication, the finish and the engineering if you need it, and we build this kind of work for plants and contractors across Burlington, Hamilton, Oakville, Milton and Mississauga. Have a look at the platforms and frames on our work page for the range of it.