STEPPING UP:
Making ladder safety a priority rung-by-rung
By MELANIE MESAROS
In 2011, a repair technician was preparing ad-
justments to an HVAC unit on the top of a one-
story building in Northwest Portland.
“There was a metal roof with a slick, sheet
metal awning,” said Steve Barrett, an Oregon-
OSHA safety compliance officer. “The worker
took an extension ladder and leaned it against the
gradual angle of the awning (55 degrees) and it
slipped right out from under him. He fell to the
pavement and ended up with multiple fractures
to his right leg and ankle.”
Barrett said not only was the portable ladder
set up improperly (extreme angle), the rubber
pads on the feet of the ladder were worn.
OR-OSHA Safety Enforcement Manager
Gary Beck said ladder accidents are often the re-
sult of a ladder being used improperly.
“We see workers who use a step ladder when
it should be an extension ladder,” said Beck.
“other times, the ladder is too short or it’s dam-
aged in some way, or they try to carry too much
when going up.”
Despite the fact that ladders are a basic tool
for many trades, employees may not be trained
on ladder safety to avoid injury. Educating work-
ers on the three-point system is a good place to
start, said Beck.
“Workers should always face the ladder when
going up or down and have one hand on the lad-
der,” he said.
According to the OR-OSHA rule, portable
ladders with any defects such as broken, bent or
missing rungs, corroded components, worn feet,
etc, must be tagged and put out of service until
repaired.
“Sometimes, the right ladder isn’t available to
a worker or they don't take the time to get the
right one for the job,” said Beck.
Barrett said improper ladder use is a common
citation, particularly in construction.
“I have seen companies use a ladder for some-
thing it’s not designed for — scaffolding, for in-
stance,” he said. “They will place a scaffold
plank across a step ladder to hold up the end. If
you put a lot of weight on the scaffold, it’s de-
signed to hold one person, not the weight of the
plank, a person, and all the materials.”
Beck said ladder falls are preventable, and
employers need to ensure their workers know
how to properly use a ladder.
“It’s not a bad idea to review lad-
der safety once a year,” said Beck.
“It could save a life or prevent a se-
rious injury.”
(Editor’s Note: Articles on this
page are reprinted from the Oregon
Safety and Health Resource newslet-
ter published by Oregon-Occupa-
tional Safety and Health Division.)
Falling off of a ladder — then and now
By ELLIS BRASCH
Ladder accidents — and their causes — have a
curious continuity. Consider this news item:
“Failure to secure a ladder resulted in the
death several weeks ago of a telephone lineman.
[He] was repairing a drop line, having set up an
extension ladder with the middle of it
resting over a fence and the top leaning
against a fir limb 19 feet above the
ground.
“The ladder slipped off the limb when
the lineman apparently reached too far
out to connect the wires. The bottom of
the ladder also slipped [because] it had
not been secured. The lineman fell to the
ground, dying a day later of a broken
neck. He left a wife and two children.”
And this quote, in another news item,
from an emergency medical responder
who tended to a worker critically injured
after a fall from a ladder:
“Usually, you won’t get hurt that
badly falling off a ladder ... But he must have
landed wrong.”
The first item appeared in the September 1945
issue of Safer Oregon, a newsletter published by
the State Industrial Accident Commission. The
emergency responder was quoted in an article
published in the Oregonian in January 2012.
Sixty-seven years separated these two events, but
the causes of ladder accidents haven’t changed
since John H. Balsley invented “the improved
stepladder” in 1862. And that lineman might very
well have had the same thought — before he fell
from the ladder in 1945 — that the emergency re-
sponder expressed in 2012: “Usually, you won’t
get hurt that badly falling off a ladder.”
Every year, more Oregon workers are injured
in falls from ladders than from any other elevated
surface — including roofs, scaffolds, balconies,
and even stairs. They fall from ladders for one (or
more) of the following reasons:
• They use the wrong type of ladder for the job;
• The ladder is defective and shifts unexpect-
edly or collapses;
• They set up the ladder improperly and the
ladder unexpectedly shifts or slips;
• Their foot slips or they lose their balance
when climbing or descending;
• They overreach and lose their balance;
• Something knocks the ladder over;
• They think they won’t get hurt badly if they
fall.
Of course, you can get hurt just as badly falling
off a ladder as you can from falling off other ele-
vated surfaces. Its is not the fall that hurts you; it’s
what happens when you hit the ground.
If you need help convincing skeptical people
how ladder accidents happen, you can share sum-
maries of every ladder accident reported to OR-
OSHA since 2007 at its website: www.orosha.
org/subjects/ladders.html#.U0cYcSje6Ng
Need a quick refresher on how to select, set up,
and use a portable ladder? Check out Oregon
OSHA’s portable ladder app, also available for
mobile devices in the Google Play store.
Oregon OSHA’s Top 10 violations of 2013
By MELANIE MESAROS
Safety committee and safety meeting viola-
tions topped the list of the most cited Oregon
OSHA standards in 2013, followed by hazard
communication and fall protection violations.
“There are aspects of the list that are disap-
pointing,” said Oregon OSHA Administrator
Michael Wood. “We’ve had a safety commit-
tee rule for more than two decades. We pro-
vide resources and training and yet, it’s still
the No. 1 issue we cite.”
Fall protection violations continue to be the
top citation for the construction industry, with
431 violations in 2013 that ranged from im-
proper use of ladders to failure to protect
against injury near holes, wall openings, and
rooftops. The first-time penalty for a fall vio-
lation averaged more than $1,000 (even with a
majority of small employers) because of the
potential for serious injury or death. Fall vio-
lations also account for the most frequent
source of repeat violations on the list.
PAGE 6
“There has been some real success when it
comes to fall protection, but there hasn’t been
enough,” said Wood. “We need to change the
culture that accepts rule violations and occa-
sional penalties. Unfortunately, that culture
still exists on some job sites.”
Overall, Wood said the list represents a
range of issues — some fundamental and
some that involve an enforcement of expecta-
tions on the part of employers.
“These aren’t paperwork violations or triv-
ial. They are protective measures that keep
people from dying on the job,” he said.
Also notable is the fact that the safety com-
mittee standard and hazard communication
rule, which requires employers to properly la-
bel, store, and assess chemical hazards, are de-
signed to help employees better protect them-
selves.
“They are important rules, even though in
most cases we don’t cite them with a penalty,”
said Wood.
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Wood said the list highlights the need for a
multi-faceted approach to safety and health in
the workplace. He said Oregon OSHA will
continue to cite violations that put workers at
the most risk. “We are going to focus on the
things that can not only injure, but kill people,”
he said.
TOP 10 VIOLATIONS
1. Safety committees/meetings
2. Hazard communication
3. Fall protection
(including ladder violations)
4. Electrical: wiring
5. Fire extinguishers
6. Machine guarding
7. Powered industrial trucks
8. Lockout/tagout
9. Eyewash station
10. Respiratory protection
APRIL 18, 2014