Temporary stairs and the rail that is not there yet

The stairs are finished last and used first. That gap is where people get hurt on them.

The points

• Four or more risers, or a rise over thirty inches, means a handrail. During the build is exactly when it is missing.
• Metal pan treads get filled with their permanent material or a temporary fill before anyone uses them. An empty pan is a broken ankle.
• Riser heights that vary by more than a quarter inch trip people, especially carrying material in poor light.
• Open sides get a stairrail at least thirty-six inches high and a mid rail, strong enough to take two hundred pounds pushed outward.
• Keep the stairway clear. It is a walkway, not the closest place to set a bundle down.

Why it goes wrong

A stairway with four or more risers, or rising more than thirty inches, needs a handrail. During construction that rail is often the last thing installed, and the stair gets used by every trade for weeks before it appears. That is not a paperwork gap; it is the period when the stair is most dangerous and most used.

Metal pan treads are the specific trap. They are designed to be filled with concrete or a temporary fill. Walked on empty, the front edge is a lip and the middle is a hole, and a boot that catches the lip goes down hard. They look finished enough that people trust them.

The other thing that puts people down is inconsistency. Human beings climb stairs without looking once they have learned the rhythm. A riser that differs by more than about a quarter of an inch breaks that rhythm, and it does it to someone carrying material in poor light.

Questions for the crew

1. Which stairs on this job still have no handrail?
2. Are any of the pan treads still empty?
3. What are we carrying up and down today, and can the person carrying it see the steps?

To close

If you are carrying something up those stairs today and cannot see your feet, make two trips.