Monday, January 06, 2014
Keys to Preventing Ladder Falls
Occupational Health & Safety: As I travel around the country speaking about ladder safety, I have the opportunity to meet with groups from different industries and talk with them about their ladder problems. Some industries face very unique challenges, but there are always a few that remain the same. Ladder accidents occur because of complacency. People have been climbing ladders since they were little children on the playground, and they don't think of ladders as safety equipment.
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I think it's ridiculous that ladders aren't tested for overreaching or improper setup. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong- and when you're on something that is essentially a giant lever. The article makes very good points- almost every work environment is not going to have a perfectly level ground, and people make mistakes- the same mistakes- predictably. As long as it's people and not robots that are climbing ladders, they're going to be dumb and reach for that thing that's just out of reach. We test everything else for worst-case scenarios- there's a reason we do crash-tests on cars. I wish the article included pictures of the aerial safety cages it proposes as an alternative to ladders; they sound interesting.
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