Articles Tagged with ''ladder safety''

Moving a ladder while a co-worker remained on the ladder platform led to a fall that – six months later – proved fatal, according to a Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) reportfrom NIOSH. The incident occurred on December 12, 2015, when two men employed by a municipality were dusting crown molding in a meeting room inside city hall. The 68-year-old victim had finished dusting a section of molding and the ladder needed to be moved to continue the task.

Factors contributing to falls from ladders include haste, sudden movement, lack of attention, the condition of the ladder (worn or damaged), the user's age or physical condition, or both, and the user's footwear.

When OSHA revised the walking-working surface standard in 2016, part of the goal was to make the general industry standard more consistent with existing construction standards.

Every day 2,000 people are injured in a ladder-related accident. One hundred of those people suffer a long-term or permanent disability. And every day, one person dies; the numbers are continuing to rise.

If you could prevent 29 worker deaths and 5,842 lost-workday injuries each year1, would you? Those estimates were a major reason OSHA updated 1971’s General Industry CFR 1910 regulations for Walking-Working Surfaces and Personal Fall Protection Systems at the end of 2016.

Because using a ladder is such a familiar skill, it can be easy to overlook the need for safe operating procedures in the workplace. However, ladders continue to be a contributing factor in more than 150 fatalities and 20,000 non-fatal workplace injuries each year.

When it comes to ladder safety, there’s a difference between three-point control and the traditional three-point contact rule. Three-point control is a climbing method that involves always using three or four limbs distributed over three or four locations for reliable support. Three-point contact involves simply coming into contact with the ladder at three points without necessarily requiring a reliable hand grip for support.

While OSHA’s Top 10 list of most frequently cited workplace safety violations is usually filled with familiar violations names, this year’s rundown contains a newcomer: Fall Protection – Training Requirements (1926.503).

According the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, every year 500,000 people are treated for ladder-related injuries and approximately 300 of these incidents prove to be fatal. In 2007 alone, more than 400 people died as a result of falls on or from ladders or scaffolding. -Liberty Mutual - Research Institute for Safety.