Lower Handrail Problem - Accident Prevention

This piece of metal sticking out will eventually cause someone's shoe laces to catch or a piece of clothing, causing an accident and should be cut off, even with the last baluster. This is something that is relatively simple to fix but if left alone could cause an accident, which could lead to a law suit, costing lots of money.

side view of lower stair handrail creating safety problem

Here's an illustration and a side view of the stairway and handrail problem.

cut of lower handrail part that created safety problem

This is what the handrail should look like after that these for section creating the safety problem is removed.

I don't even know if this particular stairway would meet most building codes, because it doesn't cover the first step completely. It probably should have even extended a little beyond the first step, by at least a couple of inches.

Check out our section on stair guard railing building codes for more information

Repaired Handrail By Cutting Off Safety Hazard