Case Study: FRP Handrails and Stairs Provide Safe Access

0519-ChoctawThe Choctaw Waste Treatment Plant in Choctaw, Oklahoma, has a new fiberglass stairway to replace a badly corroded steels spiral stairway. The stairway provides access to the bottom of the headworks where samples must be taken from the raw sewage that enters the waste treatment plant.

TECHNICAL DATA
Product: Fiberglass Access Stairs
Process: Pultrusion, Fiberglass Fabrication
Materials:

  • EXTREN® Series 625 fiberglass reinforced vinyl ester structural shapes, fire retardant
  • DURADEK® I-6000 1" fiberglass reinforced vinyl ester grating, fire retardant, gray (currently DURAGRID®)
  • SAFRAIL™ fiberglass reinforced vinyl ester handrail, fire retardant
For: Design Engineers, Inc.
User: Choctaw Waste Treatment Plant

The steel structure and handrail were severely pitted and corroded from the sewer gas within the headworks, which is highly corrosive and very damp. In addition, the stairs were very narrow and steep. Bernie Nauheimer at the Choctaw plant and Gene Sayers of Design Engineers, Inc. of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, worked with Strongwell to develop a design for the access stairway to solve the problem. The new design utilized landings and wider stair treads and was made of vinyl ester DURADEK® I-6000 and EXTREN® Series 625 structurals to provide superior corrosion resistance. The DURADEK® nonskid surface also provided better footing for worker safety.

The new access stairway was easily installed by L. F. Downey Construction Company, who had never worked with fiberglass before.

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