The Ontario Building Code | Loads on Walls Acting As Guards
4.1.5.16. Loads on walls Acting As Guards
(1) Where the floor elevation on one side of a wall, including a wall around a shaft, is more than 600 mm higher than the elevation of the floor or ground on the other side, the wall shall be designed to resist the appropriate lateral design loads prescribed elsewhere in this Section or 0.5 kPa, whichever produces the more critical effect.
In Plain Language
Where a wall (including a shaft wall) has a floor elevation more than 600 mm higher on one side, that wall must be designed to resist the same loads required of a guard, since it's effectively serving that same fall-protection function.
This is a plain-language summary of the 2012/2017 Ontario Building Code text above, for general understanding only and not a substitute for the Code. Always confirm current requirements against the 2024 edition (O.Reg. 163/24) or a qualified professional before construction.