In South Africa it is legal to manufacture and install balustrades which have horizontal rails or cables, and in our building codes there are no stipulations that say it is illegal. The only mention that is made of horizontal rails being illegal is related to a swimming pool fence for obvious drowning reasons. In America, horizontal rails are legal in some cities and illegal in other cities. For example in America, each State, County and even the individual cities have different bylaws. You may find that even though Mill Valley and Sausalito fall within the Marin County in California, their bylaws are different. Horizontal rails may be legal in Mill Valley but illegal in Sausalito even though they both fall under Marin County and are both in California. In South Africa there is no differentiation between provinces or cities. Horizontal rails are allowed and certainly not illegal. We at Steel Studio often get asked by clients, how their balustrades that incorporate horizontal rails can be made safer to prevent their child climbing up and over the rails. There is no full proof system, however, we can offer to offset (crank) the handrail to a different plane. That way should your child climb up the rails, when they get to the top with the handrail offset towards the child climbing, it will be more difficult to climb over. In fact if you visit OR Tambo airport, you will see that is what the Architect designed for the majority of the balustrades at the airport. If you prefer the horizontal rails for aesthetic reasons but are worried about your child climbing them, you can always have a combination of these with glass in front which will prevent the climbing. This is obviously an expensive option but can be done.