The few metres between the gate and the front door account for a disproportionate share of falls at home, and almost all of the contributing faults are cheap to correct. Uneven steps, a missing handrail, a surface that is slick in the wet and a dark approach are the four, and they compound: each one is manageable alone and together they are not.
This is also the maintenance that matters most as a household's needs change, so it is worth getting right before it becomes urgent.
Steps of inconsistent height
People climb steps by rhythm rather than by looking, so a flight where one riser differs from the others is the one that trips somebody. The odd step is very often the bottom or the top one, where a path has been resurfaced and the level has risen.
Measure each riser. Where one differs noticeably, correcting that single step is worth more than anything else on the list. Where the path has been built up over the years, the honest answer may be to take a layer off rather than add another.
Edges you can see
A step edge that contrasts with the tread is easier to judge, particularly in poor light and for anybody whose sight is not what it was. A lighter painted or stone nosing against a dark tread does this without looking institutional.
Check that the nosing is not worn round and that no edge is loose. A rocking slab at a step edge is the specific fault most likely to cause a fall rather than a stumble.
Handrails
A handrail is wanted on any flight of more than two or three steps and on any slope that is steep enough to notice. It should be fixed into something solid, run the full length of the flight, continue slightly past the top and bottom step, and be a shape a hand can close around.
Test the existing one by leaning on it properly. A rail that gives when weight is put on it is worse than no rail, because it is relied upon at exactly the moment it fails.
Surfaces in the wet
Smooth stone, glazed tiles, painted concrete and timber decking all become slippery when wet or frosted, and a steady film of algae makes any of them worse. Decking at the top of a step is a particular problem and a grip strip or an anti slip insert deals with it.
Keep the approach clear of growth and clear of standing water, since a puddle at the foot of a step is ice on a cold night.
Lighting the approach
A light that comes on by itself is worth more than a brighter one operated by a switch indoors. Put the light so it falls across the step edges rather than into the eyes of somebody arriving, which means low and to the side rather than high and facing out.
Check it works through the winter. A failed bulb on an outside light goes unnoticed for months because nobody uses that door in daylight.
Thresholds and water
A threshold should shed water away from the door, and a weather bar with a drainage channel beneath it is doing real work. Where an outside level has risen close to or above the threshold, water will find its way in during heavy rain whatever is done to the door, and lowering the ground outside is the actual repair.