of side rails 14 and 16 by retaining bracket means 51 53 and 55 as seen in fig1 5 in order to clear the front facing surfaces of outriggers 20 and 22 when handrails 40 and 42 are in their retracted positions side rails 14 and 16 are parallel when viewed from the front and hence the hand rails 40 and 42 extend upwardly parallel with the side rails 14 and 16 and do not converge into the space to be occupied by a user of the present invention preferably the hand rails extend upwardly at least three feet six inches above top rung 18 39 spring biased umbrella clip 60 may be employed to retain hand rails 40 and or 42 in their fully extended position by raising said hand rail s so that said clip 60 passes each successive bracket means causing clip 60 to be pressed inwardly and thereafter be released once said clip 60 passes beyond bracket means 55 to lower the hand rail s clip 60 is manually depressed and the hand rail s lowered while clip 60 is passed through each successive bracket means upward extension of hand rails 40 and 42 is limited by retaining pin means 57 connected to the lower end portion of each hand rail said pin means 57 being sized and shaped so as not to fit through lowermost bracket means 55 downward retraction of handrails 40 and 42 is limited by retaining pin means 61 connected to the upper portion of each handrail said pin means 61 being sized and shaped so as not to fit through.