Ladder Safety Tips — Part 12

This is the final part of a 12-part series on ladder safety tips. Today’s contractor-grade ladders are well-designed and sturdily built, so it’s not that product defects are causing so many people to die while using a ladder. The cause is operator error, from ladder selection and setup to correctly putting it away and everything in between.

Choose the right duty rating

Suppose you go to a home center and try to price a 16-ft extension ladder. One of them costs $318 and the other costs $238. Should you try to save the $80 by going with the less-expensive ladder? The more expensive one has a Type 1A duty rating (300 lb load capacity). The other one has a Type II duty rating (225 lb load capacity). The first one is classed as extra-heavy duty and the second one as medium duty.

Nobody in your company weighs 300 lb, so the medium-duty one is fine. Right?

Let’s say Bill weighs 180 lb and he has a tool backpack that weighs 35 lb. It looks like you’d have 10 lb to spare. But we all tend to gain weight over time, and if Bill tips the scales at 190 and tries to also haul up a 15-lb parts bucket, the ladder’s rating will have been exceeded.

Always allow for the weight of the person, any PPE they may be wearing (it can add several pounds), tools, parts, and anything else that might be on the ladder at the same time. Also think ahead to future hiring. If you saved money with a medium-duty ladder, you now have to choose between violating federal law or buying that extra-heavy-duty ladder after all. You don’t really save $80. You waste $238.

Help the right way

Sometimes, a person needs an extra hand. When you’re working on the ground, this is easy to do. On a ladder, it’s not always so easy. First, remember the duty rating we just discussed. The highest rating is special duty (375-lb capacity) and these are the most expensive ladders. If two people are on a ladder at the same time, even this ladder may not support their combined weight (especially if they have equipment also on the ladder).

The likelihood of stepping on (and breaking) fingers is high. Worse would be an off-balance step onto the other person’s head, something that could snap the neck or at least throw the person off the ladder.

In an emergency, you may have to choose between letting someone die and having two people on the ladder. If Bill has a stroke or heart attack while climbing a ladder, you can’t very well just leave him there. Solutions to these kinds of problems should be discussed ahead of time. Solutions may include crash pads, rescue harness systems, and so forth.

In nonemergencies, you need some way other than sharing a ladder. Perhaps a second ladder can be used or perhaps the job requires scaffolding. Does the person on the ladder just need someone to hold a heavy fixture in place until he can get some mounting screws started? The person on the ground can likely use a long wooden pole such as a tree pruner extension pole or even a shop broom handle. That spare stick of 1-in EMT on the truck would also do the trick. Just don’t exceed the “one person on a ladder” rule.

Three points of contact

If ladders had rungs the dimensions of stairway steps, you could safely get by with a two-point contact method of climbing the ladder. But because your foot can miss a rung or slip off it, you need to climb with three points of contact. This is why you don’t carry anything up in one hand or the other.

So always remember to move one hand or foot at a time. If you raise your left hand to the next rung, don’t move your right hand or either foot until your left hand has a firm grip on the next rung.

One way feet slip from ladders is the climber or a helper will hang something on a rung that is below the climber’s waist. So coming down, you step on a narrow piece of rope and your foot shoots out. You can hang things on rungs on which you will not be placing your hands or feet. For example, once you haul the parts bucket up you might hang it on the top rung. Just make sure the bucket itself won’t get in the way or force you to lean back or to the side.

Do the math

Geometry is key to avoiding going for a ride on a ladder. But you don’t need to draw a triangle and use the sine or cosine of any angles. You can eyeball this. You want about a foot of horizontal distance for every foot of vertical distance. That means if you lean a 12-ft ladder against a wall, the base of the ladder needs to be 3 ft from the wall.

The angle produced by the 4:1 ratio provides a balance of the vertical force needed to, as rock climbers say, “stick” the feet of the ladder (this force is maximized when the ladder is perpendicular) and the horizontal force needed to stabilize it at the top (this force is maximized when the ladder is horizontal).

This geometry assumes a ladder being used in freestanding mode on a uniform, stable surface. You may have a poor surface starting at 2 ft from the wall (for example, concrete ends and gravel or dirt begins). Going closer than 3 ft reduces the stability at the top, so you can’t just choose to shorten the distance unless you add topside stability. For example, you could tie off the ladder at the top.

Generally, you would need to amend and/or supplement the poor surface. For example, you put a short 2x4 under one ladder foot to make up for an uneven surface. Or you dig down into the gravel, put the ladder in the excavation, backfill with gravel, and tamp the gravel down. Using this method, you are essentially setting a post; fences are constructed this way with only gravel to hold the posts. It’s very secure. You’ll have to dig the ladder back out when done.