Green light for guidance

In particular, the association welcomed the introduction of HSE’s revised and simplified guidance: INDG455 ‘Safe use of ladders and stepladders – A brief guide’ (formerly INDG402 & 3). This follows HSE’s conclusion that where problems existed with the application of the Regulations, they arose from the misinterpretation of the Regulations rather than from the Regulations themselves. 

The new guidance, developed in conjunction with the Ladder Association and other principal stakeholders, is unambiguous. It makes clear, subject to risk assessment, that ladders remain a sensible and practical option in the workplace – and that if it’s right to use a ladder, to use the right ladder and to use it safely.  

Comments Ladder Association chairman, Cameron Clow: “Ladders are a versatile and invaluable piece of workplace equipment but, like all other forms of access equipment, there are some common sense rules for using them safely. It’s all about sensible and proportionate management of the risks.”

“Fortunately, we now have some straightforward, easy-to-understand guidance from HSE that confirms and reinforces this message and, at the same time, provides advice on the often simple, but sensible, precautions that those using ladders and stepladders should take to keep safe and avoid falls from height.” 

“More often than not, these falls are caused by inappropriate or incorrect use, which is why the Ladder Association manages and delivers a national training scheme for users, supervisors and managers wanting to equip themselves with the knowledge, skills and confidence necessary to use ladders safely and productively. Encouragingly, delegate numbers are now at an all time high.”

 

The latest training course from the association addresses the needs of occasional users of steps and step stools in shops, offices, schools and the health sector. The course covers everything from the law, relevant standards and the latest guidance, through to potential hazards and storing and handling steps and step stools in the workplace. Lasting a minimum of 2.5 hours and including four distinct assessment activities, successful candidates receive a Ladder Association certificate and LadderCard.

Says Cameron Clow: “These essential, everyday access products are in daily use throughout the country in virtually every business sector. Whilst simple in design and 

construction, it’s essential that users know and understand how to use them safely

and inspect them properly”. 

The new course joins the association’s existing courses Ladders and Stepladders and Ladder and Stepladder Inspection. Inspection is a crucial but often neglected component of ladder safety, but as the association makes clear, maintaining ladders and stepladders in good working order requires pre-use checks by the user, detailed inspections and routine maintenance.  

 

The aim of a pre-use check is to quickly establish whether a ladder is safe to use there and then. The user must carry out a pre-use check prior to setting up the ladder (this may only need to be done once a day for frequently used ladders). It is a visual and functional check intended to enable the user to identify obvious defects likely to prevent its safe and proper use. These might include, for example, stiles that are warped, cracked, bent, rotten or of different lengths. Or rungs that are missing, worn, loose or damaged.

Detailed inspections of work equipment, as required by the regulations, are more in-depth and need to be carried out by competent people. The aim is to establish whether the ladder is safe for continued use, or that maintenance and remedial work is necessary. In recent years users have also had the option of replacing ‘dodgy’ ladders with new ones under the association’s Ladder Exchange scheme. In-depth visual and functional inspections need to be carried out at set intervals and formally recorded.  

Finally, ladders must be maintained in accordance with manufacturers’ guidelines. The need to keep a ladder’s anti-slip feet clean is of paramount importance so that the co-efficient of friction is maintained between the foot of the ladder and the ground. The ladder also needs to be kept clean so that defects are not hidden from view. Wooden ladders should not be painted as this too can hide defects.

All these points are covered in the association’s Code of Practice, free-to-view online Toolbox Talks and, of course, in the official training courses.