IFC Schema Recommendation: Inclusion of Stair Width Property in IfcStair and IfcStairFlight entities

Following up on our earlier conversation regarding the recommendation to adopt the term “BarrierFreeAccessible” instead of “HandicappedAccessible,” I’d like to share another suggestion related to the IFC schema.

While working through the accessibility code, I observed that the entities IfcStair and IfcStairFlight currently do not include a direct property for stair width, which is a crucial parameter for accessibility and design compliance, and fire safety requirements.

Given the regulatory importance of stair width across multiple disciplines, I would like to propose introducing a dedicated property, such as Width or StairWidth, within the standard property sets (Pset_StairCommon or Pset_StairFlightCommon) linked to these entities.

This property would:
• Improve consistency in data exchange across BIM platforms

• Support automated rule-based compliance checks

• Facilitate a more accurate and complete representation of stair elements in openBIM workflows

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.