Les
Well-Known Member
This high school was built in the late 90's. A search for the school + auditorium comes up with plenty of pictures of similar venues ALL with steps pre-installed the complete length of the stage/pit front. I can only guess that the architects felt a high school auditorium orchestra pit, used for maybe 2-3 weeks out of a year and spends the rest of the time covered shouldn't be looked at as a constant fall hazard. Pictures of those venues all show pit covers that appear to be original design elements also.
I found this interesting as well. Best of my knowledge, these kinds of things can't be "grandfathered in" and it doesn't matter how temporary it is - even short-term fall hazards need to be addressed. At least that has been the takeaway lesson in every OSHA General and Construction regs class I've taken.