Window in an enclosure for a spiral staircase

[Sifu]

In the last year or so I either read or had a discussion concerning glazing located in a wall surrounding a freestanding spiral staircase. It seems I remember that the result of this was that the glazing would be considered to be in a hazardous location. The discussion centered on whether they would need to be since they were not actually in the wall, rather they were located outside of the guards. It is my recollection that there was a minimum dimension between the guards and the glazing that would allow these windows to be considered to be in a non-hazardous location. This discussion may have actually been about glazing in a commercial stairwell but either way I think the results would apply to either situation. Does anyone out there have or know of any documentation for this condition? Perhaps been a party to the discussion (maybe I read it on this forum?). My contention is that if the glazing is above the guard height in the stairwell enclosure it should be tempered but if the stair is pulled away from the wall a little further............

 

[mtlogcabin]

Is this what you where thinking

2009 IRC

R308.4 Hazardous locations.

8. Glazing adjacent to stairways within 60 inches (1524 mm) horizontally of the bottom tread of a stairway in any direction when the exposed surface of the glazing is less than 60 inches (1524 mm) above the nose of the tread.

Exceptions:

1. The side of the stairway has a guardrail or handrail, including balusters or in-fill panels, complying with Sections R311.7.6 and R312 and the plane of the glass is more than 18 inches (457 mm) from the railing;

 

[Sifu]

That must be a part of the discussion I remember because I had the 18" number bouncing around in my head. Can't thank you enough, I didn't think to look in the 09 and didn't read far enough in the 06. Now I have and hopefully won't forget about it again.