"Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries for older Americans," is something many of us have heard before. I wanted to step back and examine the safety of my entire adventure process. I then identified the events with the highest risk and probability of occurring that could be solved for the least amount of money. When you consider that I climb up into, and out of, my Four Wheel Camper a few dozen times each day, during the daytime and nighttime, in mostly remote and unfamiliar locations, alone - upgrading to a high quality step stand caught my attention.
This aluminum unit is 20" high, 27" wide, 22" deep. My previous high risk event has now been minimized and stepping on this solid non-slip surface confirms that.
Here are the aluminum step stand ordered from Uline - even though I selected standard ground shipping, it was shipped hours after I ordered, and it arrived today. That's great service. As you can see, the 22" deep stand easily clears the 24" door opening. And the aluminum is so very light - I am glad I selected this one over the steel.
Here is the smaller plastic Worx step stool that has served well for the past nearly two years. After thinking more about the unit, if all I was doing was stepping up onto it I believe it may have lasted longer. But when I step down off the rear bumper I always aim to place my foot into the center to reduce the chances of missing and falling. I am not certain it was designed with that type of use in mind.
This picture appears to show a significant difference but let me assure you, in person the difference between the aforementioned Worx, and this Uline are night and day. I am really happy with this and my feet feel so solidly planted I am disappointed I did not initially select this type of step stand. If you sense excitement in my voice regarding this new piece of gear, you are correct. It just feels so darn firm with zero chance of slipping when I use it.
One final consideration is the comparison of the rise of both Units. Normal steps are approximately 7" high so using the table below we see that using the Worx is like ascending stairs using two steps each time. It's not that big of a deal since we are only going up three stairs to climb 43" - kinda tough, but short. The Uline spreads this out by providing four stairs to climb with the first three steps being much closer together and being near that ideal 7" rise. It's that final step from the bumper up into the camper that hurts both.
And stepping out is so much easier since I have this large, brightly colored target, with serrated steps. I wish I would have also taken a picture of the Worx although a National Park worker passed by a few minutes ago and I asked if they would be able to kindly dispose of the previous unit. The Worx was much smaller, it was colored black, and the top was plastic with flat ridges in it that are absolutely no comparison to the many rows of serrations used on the Uline.
In closing, here is a close-up of the leg-eating serrations for all to see. No, I will not be stepping on these with bare feet.
Edited by ramblinChet, 22 November 2023 - 07:23 AM.
