said by Ken:I have seen a lot of stairs where the bottom step or two extends out past where the railing stops, but they always have a curved step. I guess the curved step makes it safer?
As I stated in my previous post, I believe the handrail is supposed to extend as far as the bottom riser. Looking at the pic you posted it seems that one way to achieve this is by having the bottom riser return to the handrail instead of the handrail extending to the bottom riser. I don't think it would matter if the bottom step was square or curved, although a square step may create problems with even tread size depending on how an inspector viewed the issue. It would still achieve the same. One reason it makes it safer is that someone who needs the handrail for support can use the end of the step where the handrail is easily reachable for their first or last step.