Stairs, Ramps and Runways

People treat stairs as neutral ground. They are one of the most reliable sources of injury on a site, and temporary stairs are worse than permanent ones in every way that matters.

The rules worth carrying in your head

• A stairway or ladder is required wherever there is a break in elevation of 19 inches or more and no ramp, runway or hoist — 1926.1051(a).
• Four or more risers, or a rise of more than 30 inches, whichever is less: at least one handrail, plus a stairrail along each unprotected side or edge — 1926.1052(c)(1). Four risers is a lower bar than people assume, and most temporary flights clear it.
• Stairrails installed after March 1991 are at least 36 inches from the tread surface.
• Treads and risers uniform within a flight. The one odd-height step is what catches people, because your foot goes where the last four told it to.

Temporary stairs

• No pan stairs until the pans are filled. Metal pan treads left unfilled, or filled with loose gravel and a scrap of ply, are a trap — the surface moves under you and there is nothing to grab.
• Nothing stored on a stair or a landing. Not for a minute. A stair is an escape route as well as a route to work.
• Landings kept clear and drained, and lit well enough to see the nosing.
• Handrails complete before the flight is used, not after the inspection.

Ramps and runways

• Uniform, slip-resistant surface, cleated where it is steep or wet.
• Guardrails on runways four feet or more above a lower level.
• Watch the bounce. A ramp or plank that flexes noticeably under one person is not carrying two people and a load. Report it rather than walking it gently.
• Never use a ramp built for wheelbarrows as a walkway for materials on a shoulder.

The habits

• One hand on the rail, always. Which means you do not carry it in both hands — hoist it, cart it, or make two trips.
• See the step. Carrying anything that blocks your view of your feet on stairs is how ankles and wrists go.
• Look at the surface, not the phone. Nothing on a screen is worth a flight of stairs.
• Clean your boots. Mud and ice come with you onto a nosing that is already smooth.
• Report the loose nosing, the missing rail, the light that has gone. Everyone walks past it; the next person is carrying something.