Stairway Step Dimensions: Replication of a Measurement System Study

This paper reports a replication of a prior measurement system study. The earlier study examined the nosing-to-nosing measurement system for measuring steps in a stairway to determine uniformity. In each study, two individuals measured six flights of stairs on two separate occasions. The difference in the first and second study was the different measurers. Step attributes used to define uniformity are riser height and tread depth. The measurers in each study obtained 744 values of riser height and 672 values of tread depth. The ANOVA for each study indicated that less than 4% of the variance in these attributes was due to the measurers; the remainder of variability was due to physical differences in the steps. ANOVA results of this replication led to essentially the same conclusion as the initial study—that the nosing-to-nosing measurement system is acceptable for measuring step dimensions