Mast Steps

[Brion Toss]

Hello,
After hearing way too many tragic "bounce" stories having to do with better steps than these, I am in no way in favor of your design. It's hard to know where to start, but let's go with the matter of so-far-universal approval from people who have tried them. Unless every one of those who have tried them has a meaningful basis of reference, their opinion isn't exactly valuable. So basically you are exposing ignorant people to real danger.
Then there's the matter of lack of a positive outer stop. Even with anti-skid, it is going to be far too easy to slip off of these steps. And then there's the number of screws or rivets (2) holding them on. More fasteners are a bother, but they are also reassuringly redundant, and they distribute the unavoidable long-term shear loads nicely.
Mast steps have been around for a long time, long enough for people to understand the above points, and more; the best designs reflect this knowledge. Yours don't.
I just installed 4 mast steps today, down low, to enable the owners to reach the head of the mains'l. The steps were the fold-down kind, with rough tread and an outboard keeper. Tomorrow I'll be installing 2 more, about 4.5ft down from the masthead, as a place to stand once one gets up there using a bosun's chair. I believe that any other use even for good mast steps is hazardous in too many instances. So I agree with a comment above that if you must install steps all the way up, that you always also use a harness with some form of fall arrest.
"It's just like climbing a ladder", people will say. Yeah, a medieval ladder, with the upright running up the middle. A skinny, slick aluminum ladder that is waving in the air in often unpredictable ways.
So while I commend your interest in doing things cheaply and simply, it is not always possible to do so and still approach anything like safety. Your steps are a case in point.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss