TECHNICAL GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES FOR WORKING AT HEIGHT FROM LADDERS & STEPS

This health and safety document "Technical Guidelines and Procedures for Working At Height From Ladders & Steps " is written in detail for the work at height while using various types of portable/other ladders. Thousands of workers died or get fatal injuries due to falls from ladders. These technical guidelines for the use of ladders are very helpful for home repairs, and for those workers who are working routinely on ladders. To download more health and safety documents in Word, editable and ready-to-use format, keep visiting the site at "QHSE DOCUMENTS" regularly. to get a notification for every upload, subscribe to the site, and don't forget to share with your friend and family members and on your social media.

1. Objectives

The aim of this under-discussion Technical Guidelines and Procedures for Working At Height From Ladders & Steps highlights the use of various forms of ladders such as Ladders, Steps, and associated Work at Height Equipment

2. Introduction

1. Falls from height are a basic and primary cause of serious and fatal injuries in the workplace. The objectives and aims of this toolbox talk are to help:
2. Management of the risk by giving health and safety training, inductions, or orientations to your work team on how to choose and use the most proper piece of such types of equipment when working at height
3. Understand how to anticipate the risks of falling hazards in your workplace
4. Understand the Health & Safety Executive's short duration and low-level safety requirements when working at a height

3. What is Work at Height?

Here we will discuss what is working at height. It means carrying out any working activity in any place where, if there were no proper and recommended safety measures/precautions in place, a worker could fall a distance (More than Approx. 2 meters) liable to cause personal physical injury.

1. Take a sensible approach to work at height. 
2. There may be some low-risk situations where common sense tells you no particular precautions are necessary; the law recognizes this.
3. The percentage of serious and fatal physical injuries due to falls from height has not decreased:
4. In [2020/21] - [10] fatal injuries to workers involved falling from height. [6] were in the building trades, [4] in farming and four in manufacturing. 
5. All fatal fall injuries were males
6. [-%] of leading injuries (such as fractures, amputations etc.) elaborated falls from height with the highest fall injury rates among older workmen
7. Falls from height physical injuries/or consequences are not subject to seasonal and or periodic variations.

4. Are ladders & step ladders banned?

1. There is a common misconception that ladders, and stepladders are banned, but this is not the case.
2. There are several situations and circumstances where a ladder is the most suitable and helpful equipment for working at height activities or conducting tasks. For work and activities of low risk or less duration, ladders and step ladders can be intelligent options.

Remember 

1. Adopt an effective and intelligent approach to working @ height. 
2. There may be some low-risk situations where common sense tells you no particular precautions are necessary; the law recognizes this.

5. Hierarchy of Fall Protection

1. Avoid Working at Height
2. Avoid working at height where possible using tools and plants from ground level.

6. Guard the Hazard

Where there are no fixed parapets or guardrails consider a Freestanding Guardrail System or else other collective protection plants such as MEWPS, Scaffold, Towers, or at lower heights Podiums

7. Protect the Worker

If the risk of a fall remains minimize the distance or consequence of the fall with a suitable Fall Protection System.

Low-Risk Short Duration Work

For work and activities of low risk or less duration, ladders and step ladders can be intelligent options.

8. Temporary Products Examples

Some of the Leading Examples of Temporary Products that Give us the Option ‘Guard the Hazard’:

1. Freestanding Guardrail Systems
2. Mobile Elevated Work Platforms (MEWPS)
3. Mobile Scaffold Towers & Podiums

9. Protect the Worker

1. Types of Fall Protection Systems
2. Personal Fall Arrest Systems
3. Class A – Fixed Anchor Points
4. Class B – Temporary Systems
5. Class C - Horizontal Lifelines
6. Safety Nets
7. Demarcation Systems (an economical solution to Freestanding Guardrail Systems providing it is placed at least 2-m from the roof edge.)
8. Freestanding Weighted Anchor to BS EN 795
9. Safesite Demarcation Systems

10. When is a Ladder the Most Suitable Equipment? 

The law [The law of the state or country where your physical business exists or is being operated] says that various types of ladders can be used for work at height when a risk assessment and hazard identification has indicated that using such type of equipment offers a higher level of fall protection systems is not convincing because of the low risk and short duration of use, or there are existing workplace features which cannot be altered or changed. 

11. s Specialized Training Required to Use Ladders?

1. As an accountable and responsible person, you should make sure that workers with enough appropriate skills, information, competency, and experience are employed to carry out the work task, or, if they are being trained or instructed, that they work under the supervision and guidance of somebody competent and skilled to do it. 
2. Training often takes place on the job; it does not always take place in a classroom. 
3. As if there is a low-risk activity, SDT (short duration means tasks or activities that take less than 30 minutes) involving various forms of ladders, competence requirements may be no more than making sure the workforce has given proper and essential instruction on how to use such equipment accurately and safely. 
4. When a more technical level of competence and skills is demanded, existing training and certification schemes drawn up by the Ladder Association are one way to help demonstrate competence. 

12. What is Short Duration Work?

Here we will discuss the most used term while working at height “Short Duration Work”. As for your knowledge and information, if any work or task would require staying up a leaning ladder or stepladder for more than 30 minutes at a time, it is suggested and recommended that one should consider alternative equipment or working platforms.

13. What is Low Risk?

1. The guidance from the HSE leaves this to your judgment but does allude to examples such as ‘Starting a Screw’, ‘Hanging Wallpaper’, ‘Installing a Smoke Detector’ etc.
2. Using these examples should provide an idea of what you may define as Low risk.
3. Only use any form of ladders and steps in circumstances where they can be used safely and securely.

Ladders and Steps Need to Be: 

1. Ladders need to be secured (where it is reasonably practicable to do so). 
2. You can source ladders or accessories that can help make your ladder meet these requirements
3. Check all four stepladder feet are in contact with the ground and the steps are level

14. Pre-Use Checks

1. At the beginning of the working day, the user should make the following checks or after something has changed (e.g., a ladder has been dropped or moved from a dirty area to a clean area).
2. Make a careful Check for the stiles – Ensure they are not bent or deteriorated
3. Check the feet – if they are missing, worn, damaged or dirty (e.g., soil, chippings, or embedded stones) the ladder could slip. 
4. Check the rungs – if they are bent, worn, missing or lost the ladder could fail. 
5. The most important part of the portable ladders is the lock system. Carefully observe, inspect, and check any locking mechanisms – if they are bent or the fixings are damaged and not secure to use and the possibility of the ladder. Make sure no locking bars are engaged. 
6. Carefully Inspect, observe, and check the stepladder platform – if it is split or buckled the ladder could become unstable or collapse and will lead to severe and critical fall injuries. 
7. Check the steps or treads on stepladders – if they are contaminated, they could be slippery; if the fixings are loose on the steps, they could collapse. 

15. Leaning Ladders

Setting Up.

1. Don’t overload it – consider workers’ weight, equipment & materials
2. Don’t try to move or extend ladders while standing on the rungs 
3. Don’t work off the top three rungs
4. Don’t stand ladders on moveable objects
5. Don’t try to carry out work activities within 6 meters horizontally of any overhead electrical line
6. Ensure that the ladder angle is at 75°. This is the correct and safe practice.
7. Tie the ladder to a suitable point, making sure both stiles are tied
8. Where this is not practical, secure with an effective ladder stability device, ‘footing’ is the last resort.
9. Always grip the ladder and face the ladder rungs while climbing or descending
10. Always avoid holding items/equipment and tools when climbing (consider using a tool belt)
11. Maintain three points of contact when climbing (this means a hand and two feet) 
12. Do not rest a ladder against weak upper surfaces (e.g., glazing, or plastic gutters)

16. 3-Points of Contact Other Than a Brief Period.

1. Keep and maintain 3- Points of contact wherever practicable at the work position. 
2. If it is not possible to handhold, other than for a short duration (for example, to hold a nail while starting to knock it in, starting a screw etc.), you will require to take other safety initiatives and measures to prevent a fall or minimize the consequences if one occurred.
3. A work positioning belt with a short lanyard may be appropriate if the ladder is suitably secured. 
4. Working through the ladder with your body resting against may help in preventing a fall.

17. Ladder Stability Solutions

1. Ladder stability is a major root cause of accidents involving ladders. 
2. Research on leaning ladders has shown that base slip and movement at the top of the ladder are the top cause of accidents.
3. Pinnacle Combination ladders have built-in levelling and stability to reduce the chance of the ladder moving at the base or the top.
4. The latest generation Little Giant Ladders have inbuilt stabilizer and leg levelling options.
5. Splayed bases reduce the chance of the ladder moving as standard.

18. Ladder Safety Accessories

1. Ladder stability is a major root cause of accidents involving ladders. 
2. Research on leaning ladders has shown that base slip and movement at the top of the ladder are the top cause of accidents.
3. Little Giant Ladders have leg levelling accessories to cope with uneven ground, slopes, or steps.
4. The ladder Base reduces the risk of slipping on a range of surfaces.
5. Stand-Off bracket ensures the ladder is secured against a stable surface.

19. What About Ladders Used for Access? 

1. Ladders used to access another level should be tied and extended at least 1 m (typically three clear rungs) above the landing point to provide a secure handhold. 
2. At Ladder Access Points (LAP), a self-closing gate is recommended/suggested
3. Stepladders should not be used to access another level unless they have been specifically designed for this. 

20. Step Ladders

While deciding on the stepladders, if it is safe and secure to carry out a specific work activity on a stepladder where one cannot maintain a handhold (e.g., to put an object/cartoon on a shelf, hang curtains, install a heat, or smoke detector or fixing a LED light on a ceiling), this needed to be accurately justified, considering:

21. The Height of the Task

1. Whether a handhold is still available to steady yourself before and after the task
2. Whether it is light work
3. Whether it avoids side loading
4. Whether it avoids overreaching
5. Whether the stepladder can be tied (e.g., when side-on working)

22. Step Ladders

1. Positioning and working ‘Side on’
2. A study by the HSE has shown that sideways tipping accounts for 40% of stepladder accidents. 
3. However, there are occasions when a risk assessment may show it is safer to work side-on, e.g., in a retail stock room when you can’t engage the stepladder locks to work face-on because of space restrictions in congested aisles/ways, but you can completely lock it to work side on. 
4. Try to avoid work that imposes side loading, such as side-on drilling through solid materials (e.g., bricks or concrete) 
5. Where side-on loadings cannot be avoided, you should prevent the steps from tipping over. If the steps for the ladder cannot be secured, the other more suitable type of access equipment such as a podium step must be used.

23. Step Ladder Stability

1. Make a careful inspection, and observation and check all four stepladder feet with anti-slip pads are in contact with the ground/floor and that the steps of the ladders are properly level. Some step ladders may have strength solutions built in to assist the proper adjustment for the step on imbalance ground floors
2. Only carry light materials and tools and consider a tool belt or steps with a built-in work tray.
3. Don’t overreach
4. Can Anyone Stand on the Platform of a Platform Step of the Step Ladder?
5. Don’t stand and work on the top three steps (including a step forming the very top of the stepladder) unless there is a suitable handhold.
6. The red line indicates this is the highest tread you can work from on a Swing back or Builders-type step.
7. Here you can stand on the platform as the parapet or continuous handrail provides a suitable handhold and third point of contact.
8. Both Hands for Short Periods on a Step Ladder!
9. Maintain 3- Points of contact at the working position. Here we mean 2-Feet and 1- Hand, or when 2-Hands require to be free for a short period, 2-Feet and the human body supported by the stepladder itself.
10. Where two hands need to be free for a brief period for light work. Practice keeping/intact 2-Feet on the same ladder’s step and the human body (Your knees or chest) supported by the stepladder to keep 3-Points of contact. 
11. Make sure a safe handhold is available.
12. A large working platform shows space for both feet
13. Knee Bar or continuous Handrail provides a third point of contact for the Knee or Thigh area and a safe handhold as required.

24. Keeping Records

1. You are required to keep a record of any inspection for types of work equipment including guard rails, toe-boards, barriers, or similar collective means of protection.
2. Working platforms (any platform used as a place of work or as a means of getting to and from work, e.g., a gangway) that are fixed (e.g., a scaffold around a building) or mobile (e.g., a mobile elevated working platform (MEWP) or scaffold tower), or a ladder. 

25. User’s Responsibilities

1. Employees have general legal duties to take reasonable care of themselves and others who may be affected by their actions and to cooperate with their employer to enable their health and occupational health safety and environmental duties, responsibilities, and requirements to be adhered to. For a worker, or those working under someone else’s guidance, supervision or control, the law says they must:
2. Report any safety hazard (unsafe acts & unsafe conditions) they identify to their employer. 
3. Use the equipment and safety devices supplied or given to them properly, following any training and instructions (unless they think that would be unsafe, in which case they should seek further instructions before continuing). 

26. Employers’ Responsibilities

Employers are required to ensure that any form of the ladder is suitable for the work task and in a safe and tidy condition before each use. As a safety, ladders or stepladders only use that: 

27. Have no visible defects. 

1. They should have a proper and careful pre-use check and inspection for each working day
2. Have an up-to-date record of the detailed visual inspections carried out regularly by a competent person. These should be accomplished by following the manufacturer’s instructions and guidelines

Disclaimer

While every care has been taken in compiling the information contained in this document, we [QHSE DOCMENTS] do not make any representations as to the completeness, accuracy, or up-to-date nature of such information. We [QHSE DOCMENTS] do not accept any liability for any loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from reliance on any of the contents of this information

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TECHNICAL GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES FOR WORKING AT HEIGHT FROM  LADDERS & STEPS