Guardrails are the most visible and often overlooked safety feature of a deck. DCA6 has a number of requirements that may be new even to an experienced home inspector.
Figure 24 in DCA6 provides a number of the basic guard requirements.
One of the significant new features for guardrail assemblies is the use of “hold-down anchors” to ensure a safe resistance to lateral forces against the guard. Figure 25 applies when attaching the guard post to an outside joist.
Figure 26 details connecting a guard post and hold-down anchor when a rim joist is involved.