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["Warren F. Smith" <WarrenSmith AT PalmettoBuilders.net>]

>>Back to the stairway safety issue. I am thinking that is
>>answered with a
>>steel spiral stair with easily grasped pipe handrail on each
>>side, the
>>tread so narrow that you can't fall down more than a step or
>>two before you
>>stop. I recently used one to get up to a viewing deck over a
>>patio roof.
>>With my sciatica leg I wasn't sure if I could make it, but the dual
>>handrails allowed me to use arms and shoulders as much as
>>legs. Was almost
>>too narrow, but sure felt safe.

I have a spiral staircase as the stairway to the front door of my house.
(Naturally, my friends never come to the front door). It really is more
secure to get up and down, but I've found that people are intimidated by it,
and some won't use it at all. I think part of this is because the risers are
open. Some can go up it, but won't go down. My old dalmation would go down
but not up, because he could see through the risers going up but not through
the treads going down. I think a ships ladder, or alternating tread stairway
at the right angle may give the results Gene was talking about (Ability to
pull w/ arms and shoulders) without some of the discomforts without taking
all the space of a regular staircase.

Warren