Fan’s death raises safety questions

Braves say railings in new park will not be made higher

ATLANTA — The death of a Braves season-ticket holder raises questions about the planned height of guard rails at their new stadium scheduled to open in 2017.

The Braves say they had safety in mind when making plans for SunTrust Park even before Gregory K. Murrey’s death on Saturday night, although team officials on Monday would not release plans for the heights of the railings at the new stadium. The stadium rails at Turner Field meet industry standard height requirements, but the team could exceed those heights at their new facility.

The International Building Code, the accepted industry standard, has a minimum height requirement of 42 inches for guard rails that act as protective barriers in open-sided areas such as walkways or smoking platforms. Railings in front of seated areas must be 26 inches.

Braves president John Schuerholz didn’t address specifics on Sunday about guard rails at the new stadium, but said while Murrey’s death was tragic it wouldn’t influence construction plans.

“We’re not going to tie that into how you design a facility,” Schuerholz said. “It was a sad, tragic event. We obviously abide by industry regulations and we’ll continue to do that. That’s what we’ll do.

“We made our plans long before this event occurred. Every facility that’s getting built, there’s a great deal of communication with architects and engineers and the league in terms of abiding by league standards for the industry. We certainly will do that.”

There is a precedent for a team raising the height of its stadium rails following a fan death.

At the Texas Rangers’ facility in Arlington, Tex., higher railings were installed in 2012, one year after Shannon Stone, a firefighter attending a game with his sixyear-old son, fell about 20 feet after reaching out for a foul ball tossed into the stands.

The Rangers raised those railings from 33 inches to 42 inches, at a cost of $1.1 million.