Designing the stairways in ships, it is important to know their function in the case of emergency. In general, however, the research and investigation of human action are very difficult, because it is affected by the psychological and physiological factors. As a first step, the authors made a number of surveys of the speed at which passengers ascended or descended the stairways in normal condition. The results are shown in Fig's 1∼4, compared with the data of the stairways in buildings. In addition, the auhors investigated the "rise and tread" of the stairways and the results are shown in Fig's 5∼7.
