Articles Tagged with ''ladder safety''

Wildeck, Inc. Access products subsidiary, Ladder Industries, has announced its new LadderLink™ modular access system that provides an affordable and rugged framework of five core bolt-together components that will allow users to easily create a customized access solution for distribution centers, warehouses, and manufacturing operations.

This month is National Ladder Safety Month, but ladder safety is a year-round priority at NIOSH where scientists study how to prevent ladder-related falls. In a new study published in the journal Applied Ergonomics, a “walk-through” ladder was comparable in safety to regular ladders tested in the NIOSH Virtual Reality Laboratory in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Not long ago, a cable installer in Texas was climbing a ladder to work on some overhead lines. To waterproof the cable splices, he and his colleague used a silicone-based product, which left residue on the gloves, and the ladder rungs. As the worker descended the ladder, he slipped on the slick rungs and fell more than 13 feet, hitting the concrete below headfirst – a fatal injury.

While changing an overhead ballast in a light fixture, an employee of New Jersey Medical Center received an electrical shock that caused him to fall from a ladder. He was hospitalized and died several weeks later from the injuries he sustained in the fall.

Dorchester, Massachusetts-based contractor Roof Kings LLC exposed employees to life-threatening falls - more than 45 feet off the ground - over a three-day period as they worked at a Haverhill church, federal workplace safety and health inspectors found.

Falls remain a leading cause of unintentional injury mortality nationwide, and 43% of fatal falls in the last decade have involved a ladder. Among workers, approximately 20% of fall injuries involve ladders. Among construction workers, an estimated 81% of fall injuries treated in U.S. emergency departments (EDs) involve a ladder.

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.