During a Walnut Creek home inspection, the home inspector had just finished entering an inspection comment about the wide spacing between the vertical components of the guard railing.

The white vertical posts in the photo are called balusters. The spacing between balusters used to be 6” wide and small children were falling through or getting stuck.

As the inspector looked up, this little girl was pushing on an installed clear plastic barrier.

Without the barrier, this would have been a potential falling concern for the toddler.

Stricter building codes were passed to meet the 4” Sphere Rule: The general rule is to install balusters, so that a 4” sphere can’t pass through – protecting toddlers from falling.