Pennsylvania Code
Title 34 - LABOR AND INDUSTRY
Part I - Department of Labor and Industry
Chapter 15 - GRANDSTANDS
RULES OF CONSTRUCTION
Section 15.16 - Foundations

(a) Permanent grandstands for outdoor use shall be erected upon and attached to concrete or masonry footings extending below the surface of the ground to a depth of either 3 feet or the maximum depth of frost, whichever is greater, unless solid rock is encountered at a lesser depth.

(b) Portable grandstands shall be provided by the manufacturers with base plates and sills, floor runners or sleepers of such area that the total live and dead load does not exceed 14 pounds per square inch of the base plate, mud sills, floor runners or sleepers. The owner shall see that all bearing surfaces are in contact.

(c) Base plates, mud sills or another part of the structure in contact with the earth may be subject to no stresses other than those caused by the vertical forces resulting from live, dead, sway and wind loads and the horizontal friction resulting from sway and wind loads. The stress shall be limited to those set forth in § 15.20 (relating to painting and treatment of members) reduced as follows:

(d) In the absence of definite knowledge of the sustaining power of the earth, different soils, excluding mud and artificial fill, shall be deemed to sustain safely the following loads per square inch:

(e) For grandstands on artificial fill, either the sustaining power of the earth shall be determined by test, or the foundations shall be extended down to the natural earth, whose sustaining power shall be computed from the loads per square inch set forth in subsection (d).