Bad concrete steps- How can we make them more safe?

If your not going to break out the old concrete steps your going to want to look at several things. Most building codes are very explicit about having ALL risers and treads of equal height and width. If someone had put wood on top of the original CC steps ,that in itself would have altered the rise in a way that the top step was less than the bottom step causing an trip factor or a sudden jolt to the spine by an un-suspecting visitor walked down the steps not realizing the danger at the bottom. In most cases you won't be able to "Cover" the steps with anything that will not alter the rise sequence, and be durable enough withstand traffic let alone be pleasing to the eye! You probably don't want to hear it but my suggestion would be, to rent a 14" Concrete cutting saw, (with an industrial diamond blade ), and put on some raingear--cutting with water will keep the dust down to a min. but you will be making a slurry mess. Protect the surroundings with plastic as needed. Cut top to the bottom full depth with the blade, ( probably 4" depending upon the saw guard)-- make cuts about 4 to 6 inches apart from the top step all the way to the bottom step. (consider this as the equal to making a Dado cut in a board without the convenience of a dado blade - making enough cuts parallel to be able to easily chisel out the wood!) In the past I have used this method in combination with a steel wood splitting wedge, using a 3 to 5 lb hammer and driving the wedge into the cuts will crack the concrete into manageable pieces. Be sure You have Eye and Ear protection throughout the process!! If you feel the 14" concrete saw is more than you want to handle--LOTS OF TORQUE!!-- there are companys that can cut the concrete for you often with blades that could even make deeper cuts making it even easier to break apart. Its not a picnic but its not as bad as many would make it out to be! What you decide to put back in place can be the wonderful conclusion to your project. I check this site frequently if you have any comments or questions, Good Luck!

Have them replaced. It is too critical a point in your home investment to 'jerry-rig'.

No picture of stairs so consider this, invest time or money remove the steps and confirm the area/walls around the steps are ok. Often if the steps are in bad shape the porch or wall they connect to are affected (water, ice, ect.) And just patching the problem could worsen the issues until a little fix becomes a major structure danger. Also is a good time to treat bared are for bugs if not normal to access. Sorry sometimes safety costs but injury would be worst.