Use podium steps when a job keeps you off the floor for more than a few minutes, needs both hands, involves force or tools, or means climbing up and down repeatedly along a ceiling or wall. Use a stepladder for light, short, low-risk jobs where you can keep a handhold, or where a podium will not fit. The difference is the guardrail. A podium step has a small platform with guardrails all round and a gate, so it protects whoever is on it without them having to do anything. A stepladder has no fall protection of its own. Under the Work at Height Regulations 2005, it is the stepladder that has to be justified.
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Podium steps go by several names: podium ladders, pulpits, low-level work platforms and, loosely, “ladders with platform”, although in the ladder standards that phrase means a different product, as explained below. This guide compares them head to head with stepladders: what each one is, which the law favours, which suits common jobs, and the cost, space and weight trade-offs that decide what you actually buy.
It is about choosing the right equipment. For how to set up and climb a ladder, see our ladder safety rules. General information, not legal advice.
What are podium steps?
Podium steps are a small, free-standing platform reached by a short flight of steps. On the platform, guardrails surround you on every side and a gate closes behind you, so you can work with both hands without relying on your grip. Most are aluminium, many fold flat for storage, and many have castors so they can be wheeled between jobs, with outriggers or stabilisers to widen the base.
The British Standard for them, BS 8620, calls them low-level work platforms and says they are “commonly referred to as podiums or pulpits”. It covers a platform with side protection for one person, with a working platform no higher than 2.5 metres and a maximum working load of 150 kg. PASMA, the trade association for mobile towers and low-level access equipment, describes them in the same terms: a stable platform for work below 2.5 metres, with collective fall prevention built in.
The standard’s introduction explains where they came from. Low-level work platforms became widely used after the Work at Height Regulations 2005 came in, which created demand for a one-person platform with side protection. It also draws the line that matters for this comparison: podiums differ from the standing ladders with platforms covered by the ladder standards because podiums have side protection around the working platform.
What is the difference between podium steps and a stepladder?
A stepladder is an A-frame: you stand on a narrow tread and keep your balance with a hand on the steps or your body braced against them. A podium step puts you on a guarded platform where you can stand square, turn and use both hands. That one feature changes almost everything else.
| Feature | Podium steps | Stepladder |
|---|---|---|
| Fall protection | Guardrails on all sides and a gate; protects the user without them doing anything | None built in; the user’s handhold and balance prevent a fall |
| Hands | Both hands free for the task | One hand on the steps; both hands free only briefly, with the body braced against the steps |
| Best suited to | Longer, repeated or two-handed work, and work with tools | Short, light, low-risk jobs |
| Platform height | No higher than 2.5 m under BS 8620; models on sale commonly run from about 0.75 m to 2 m | Varies by model; check the highest standing step marked on the ladder |
| Users and load | One person, 150 kg maximum working load under BS 8620 | 150 kg maximum total load under the current EN 131 |
| Product standard | BS 8620:2016 | BS EN 131 |
| Weight | Roughly 30 to 50 kg in the listings we checked, depending on height | Much lighter; one person can usually carry it |
| Space and storage | Larger footprint; needs floor space, wide doorways and room to store | Folds flat; fits narrow aisles and cupboards |
| Cost | Several hundred pounds new in the listings we checked | Far less |
| Practical training | PASMA Low-Level Access is one route | Ladder Association stepladder courses are one route |
Which is safer, podium steps or a stepladder?
For most tasks, podium steps. In its leaflet Working at height: A brief guide, HSE defines collective protection as equipment that does not require the person working at height to act for it to be effective, such as a guard rail. Personal protection needs the individual to do something, such as clipping on a harness. A podium’s guardrails fit the first description: once the gate is shut, they protect the user whether or not they are concentrating.
A stepladder has no equivalent. Its safety depends on the user keeping three points of contact, not overreaching and not loading the steps sideways, for every minute they are on it.
The stakes are real. HSE’s provisional figures for 2025/26 show falls from a height caused 31 of the 126 worker deaths in Great Britain, around a quarter and more than any other kind of accident.
Podiums are not fall-proof, though. PASMA warns that people assume nothing bad can happen on equipment so close to the ground, when falls from podiums do cause serious injury. The guardrail only works if you stay inside it, with the gate shut, on equipment that cannot roll or tip.
What does the law say about choosing a podium or a stepladder?
No regulation names podium steps or stepladders as such, but three parts of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 decide the choice:
- Regulation 6 sets the order: avoid work at height where reasonably practicable, then prevent falls, then minimise the distance and consequences of any fall. Our guides to the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and the hierarchy of control for work at height explain each step.
- Regulation 7 says that when selecting work equipment, every employer shall “give collective protection measures priority over personal protection measures”. Employers must also take account of factors including the working conditions, the distance and consequences of a potential fall, and “the duration and frequency of use”.
- Schedule 6, paragraph 1, says a ladder may be used for work at height only if a risk assessment “has demonstrated that the use of more suitable work equipment is not justified because of the low risk and— (a) the short duration of use; or (b) existing features on site which he cannot alter.”
Read together, the burden falls on the stepladder. If a podium would do the job and its use is justified, Schedule 6 rules out the stepladder. Note the structure of that test: the risk must be low and the use must be short, or constrained by site features the employer cannot change. A short job that is not low risk does not qualify.
HSE’s ladder guidance adds a practical yardstick. Short duration is not the deciding factor; risk has to be considered first. As a guide, if a task would mean staying up a stepladder for more than 30 minutes at a time, HSE recommends using alternative equipment.
Schedule 6, paragraph 10, adds that a ladder user must be able to keep a safe handhold when carrying a load, unless, on a stepladder, that is not practicable and a risk assessment shows the stepladder is justified by the low risk and short duration. A two-handed job on a stepladder needs its own justification.
When should you use a stepladder instead of podium steps?
A stepladder is still the right tool for plenty of jobs. HSE and the Ladder Association’s guide LA455, Safe Use of Ladders and Stepladders, both say ladders and stepladders are not banned and can be a sensible, practical option for low-risk, short-duration tasks, though they should not automatically be your first choice. A stepladder makes sense when:
- the task is light and quick, such as taking a small box from a shelf or checking a smoke alarm
- you can keep a handhold, or brace your body against the steps for a brief two-handed moment
- the work puts no sideways force on the steps, unlike drilling into brick or concrete
- the space is too tight for a podium, such as a narrow stockroom aisle or a small cupboard
- the equipment has to be carried a long way or up stairs, and the task is short enough to justify it
Where a task means letting go, HSE’s stepladder guidance lists what to weigh: the height of the task, whether a handhold is available before and after, whether it is light work, whether it avoids side loading and overreaching, and whether the stepladder can be tied. Its own examples of brief no-handhold tasks are putting a box on a shelf, hanging wallpaper and installing a smoke detector on a ceiling.
Set-up and climbing rules, including facing the work and the top-steps rule, are covered in our ladder safety rules rather than repeated here. Our Ladder Safety Awareness course takes you through judging whether a ladder or stepladder suits a task, then inspecting, setting up and using it.
When should you use podium steps instead of a stepladder?
Choose a podium when any of these apply:
- the job needs both hands for more than a moment, such as supporting a light fitting while connecting it or holding a ceiling tile while fixing it
- you will be up for a sustained period; HSE’s 30-minute guide is an upper limit for a stepladder, not a target
- the work involves force, such as drilling into brick or concrete, which HSE says should not be done side-on from a stepladder
- you need to work along a line, climbing down and moving every few minutes, as when cutting in a ceiling edge round a room
- you need to stand square and turn to reach, rather than balance on a narrow tread
- a fall would be especially serious, for example onto hard edges or machinery
Frequency counts as much as the task. Because regulation 7 makes “the duration and frequency of use” a selection factor, a stepladder may be justified for one two-minute job but not for the same job repeated forty times along a corridor.
Should you use podium steps or a stepladder for common jobs?
The risk assessment for the actual task decides, but this is how the reasoning usually lands:
- Changing a lamp in an existing light fitting: usually a stepladder. It is quick and light, and you can keep a hand on the steps for most of it.
- Fitting or replacing a ceiling light panel or light fitting: podium steps. You need both hands to support the fitting while you connect and fix it, often for several minutes.
- Taking the odd box from a high shelf: a stepladder, used face-on with a handhold before and after the lift.
- Restocking a whole bay of high shelving: podium steps or other guarded equipment. It is repeated, can easily last more than 30 minutes and involves handling loads.
- Painting a ceiling or cutting in round a room: podium steps. It is long, repetitive work along a line, often with a paint kettle in one hand.
- Running cables across a ceiling or along cable tray: podium steps for platform heights up to 2.5 metres; a tower or MEWP above that.
- Lifting one ceiling tile to look into the void: a stepladder can be justified for a brief look.
- Replacing a run of ceiling tiles: podium steps. You need both hands to lift, angle and seat each tile.
- Drilling into concrete or brick: podium steps, following the manufacturer’s instructions. HSE names side-on drilling through brick or concrete as the kind of side loading to avoid on a stepladder.
- Any task that will keep someone up for more than 30 minutes at a time: not a stepladder, by HSE’s guide. Use a podium, or a tower or MEWP if the height calls for it.
How do you use podium steps safely?
PASMA’s Code of Practice tells users to always read and follow the current instruction manual, so start there. These points apply to almost every model:
- Check it before use. Look at the frame, guardrails, gate and latch, treads, feet, castors and any locking pins. If anything is bent, cracked, loose or missing, do not use it and report it.
- Set it on firm, level ground. Keep the area around the base clear of debris, packaging and trailing cables, which can trip you at the foot of the steps.
- Fit the outriggers or stabilisers if the model has them, exactly as the instructions show.
- Lock the castors before anyone climbs on. For mobile ladders, Schedule 6 already requires that the ladder “shall be prevented from moving before it is stepped on”. The same logic applies to a podium on wheels.
- Close the gate behind you, every time. Never prop it, tie it open or remove it.
- Stay inside the guardrails. Do not stand or sit on them, climb the mid-rail, or lean out over them to reach. Never put a box, stool or step on the platform to gain height. If you cannot reach comfortably, the platform is too low: raise it if the model allows, or use taller equipment.
- One person only, within the 150 kg working load, which includes tools and materials.
- Move it empty. Climb down, unlock the castors, move it, then lock them again before climbing back on. Never try to shuffle or roll the podium along while standing on it. PASMA’s code says nobody should be on a mobile tower while it is moved, and the same rule applies to a podium.
These habits are what practical training drills, and they are what supervisors should look for. A podium with its gate tied open has lost part of the protection that justified buying it.
What standard should podium steps meet?
BS 8620. Its full title is Low level work platform with one working platform with side protection for use by one person with a maximum working platform height no greater than 2.5 m. Specification. BSI says it came into effect on 31 October 2016 and is based on PAS 250:2012, which it superseded. Compared with PAS 250, it added new dimensional requirements for side protection, following the identification of potential safety issues, and a new surface for the slip-resistance test. BSI’s catalogue listed it as current and under review when we checked in October 2026.
PASMA’s guidance on design standards for towers and podiums gives employers a simple policy:
- buy or hire new podiums certified to the latest version of BS 8620
- keep using podiums made to an older version while they are in good working condition
- ask the supplier for proof that the product has been third-party certified to the standard
- replace podiums you cannot show were made to any version of the standard, because they may not be strong or stable enough
Do not confuse BS 8620 with BS EN 131-7, Ladders – Mobile ladders with platform. That part of the ladder standard covers a different product: mobile ladders with a working platform of up to 1 square metre and a platform height of up to 5 metres, again for one person and a 150 kg maximum load. BS 8620 expressly excludes them. Stepladders themselves are covered by BS EN 131; our guide to the EN 131 ladder standard explains the Professional and Non-Professional classes and what to check on the label.
Are podium steps worth the extra cost?
Usually, if the work is regular, even though a podium costs more, weighs more and takes more space. UK retail and hire listings we checked in October 2026 priced a BS 8620 podium with a 1 metre platform at several hundred pounds and gave weights of roughly 31 kg for a 0.75 metre platform up to 48 kg for a 2 metre one. Before buying, weigh:
- Moving it: castors make a podium easy to wheel across a level floor, but stairs and kerbs mean lifting 30 kg or more. If it must go between floors, plan for that or keep one on each floor.
- Space and transport: check doorways, aisles, lifts and van space against its open and folded sizes.
- Height range: models with adjustable platforms cover more jobs, so match the range to your typical ceiling and shelf heights.
- Hire: for a one-off project, hiring can make sense. The Work at Height Regulations say hired-in equipment must come with physical evidence that its last inspection was carried out.
Set the price against what it buys: a guarded platform that protects the user without relying on their grip. Where staff work at ceiling height every week, that usually pays for itself. For a shop that needs an occasional box down, a good stepladder may be all the risk assessment supports.
Do you need training to use podium steps or stepladders?
You need to be competent, not to hold a particular card. HSE says competence can be shown through a combination of training, practical and theoretical knowledge, and experience, and that training should include when it is right to use a ladder and which type to use. The duty to make sure people working at height are competent comes from regulation 5; our guide to who needs working at height training explains who it covers.
For podiums, PASMA’s Low-Level Access course is a half-day course with theory and practical assessments, leading to a PASMA card that it says lasts 5 years, though this may vary regionally. For ladders and stepladders, the Ladder Association’s training scheme includes user and inspection courses. Mobile towers need their own practical training, such as PASMA’s Towers for Users: a podium course does not cover them, and an online course covers neither.
Nexis CPD courses are awareness-level CPD: they build the knowledge behind good equipment choices but do not replace practical training or supervision. Three courses fit together for anyone who chooses or uses low-level access equipment:
- Ladder Safety Awareness: the law and your duties, hazards and risk assessment, inspecting and setting up a ladder, using it safely, and maintenance, inspection and storage; 1.5 CPD hours
- Working at Height Awareness: the law and the duties of employers and workers, risk assessment and planning, key hazards and the avoid, prevent, minimise hierarchy in regulation 6; 1.5 CPD hours
- Slips Trips and Falls Awareness: the common causes of slips and trips and how to control them through housekeeping, cleaning, floors, footwear and lighting, useful because clutter and trailing cables are hazards at the foot of any podium or stepladder; 1.5 CPD hours
Together they cost £18 rather than £27 under the pay-for-2-get-3 offer. Employers training 5 or more staff can buy team places at £6 a course place, however many places they buy, with places lasting 12 months.
£9 per course. CPD accredited, 100% online, verifiable e-certificate. Pay for 2, get 3 — any 3 courses for £18.
Frequently asked questions
Are podium steps a type of ladder?
Not under the product standards. BS 8620 treats podium steps as low-level work platforms and says they differ from standing ladders with platforms under BS EN 131 because they have side protection around the platform. In law, both are work equipment for work at height, and the employer must choose the more suitable one.
Can two people use podium steps at the same time?
No. BS 8620 covers platforms for use by one person, with a maximum working load of 150 kg including tools and materials. If two people need to work together at height, use equipment designed for more than one person, such as a mobile access tower, with the right training.
What is the maximum height of podium steps?
Under BS 8620, the working platform must be no higher than 2.5 metres. Models on sale commonly have platforms from about 0.75 metres to 2 metres. For higher work, use a mobile access tower or a mobile elevating work platform, each of which needs its own training.
Can you move podium steps with someone on them?
No. Climb down, move the podium empty, then lock the castors again before anyone climbs back on. PASMA’s code says nobody should be on a mobile tower while it is moved, and the Work at Height Regulations require a mobile ladder to be prevented from moving before it is stepped on.
Do you need PASMA training to use podium steps?
The law requires competence rather than a specific certificate. PASMA’s half-day Low-Level Access course, with theory and practical assessments, is one recognised way to build and show it. An online awareness course supports the knowledge but does not replace practical training on the equipment.
Do podium steps need to be inspected?
Yes. Users should check them before each use. The Work at Height Regulations require work equipment exposed to conditions that cause deterioration to be inspected at suitable intervals, with the results recorded, and hired equipment must come with physical evidence of its last inspection.
General information, not legal advice. This guide summarises the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and guidance from HSE, the Ladder Association, BSI and PASMA as checked on 21 October 2026; product weights and prices come from UK retail and hire listings checked on the same date and vary by model. The Regulations cited apply in England, Scotland and Wales. Nexis CPD courses are CPD-accredited awareness training: they do not replace practical training on podium steps, stepladders or towers, a risk assessment or a competent person’s inspection.