Abstract
Ladder inclined angle is a critical factor that could lead to a slip at the base of portable straight ladders, a major cause of falls from heights. Despite several methods established to help workers achieve the recommended 75.5° angle for ladder set-up, it remains unclear if these methods are used in practice. This study explored ladder set-up behaviours in a field environment. Professional installers of a company in the cable and other pay TV industry were observed for ladder set-up at their worksites. The results showed that the actual angles of 265 ladder set-ups by 67 participants averaged 67.3° with a standard deviation of 3.22°. Although all the participants had training on recommended ladder set-up methods, only 3 out of 67 participants applied these methods in their daily work and even they failed to achieve the desired 75.5° angle. Therefore, ladder set-up remains problematic in real-world situations.Practitioner Summary: Professional installers of a cable company were observed for portable straight ladder set-up at their worksites. The ladder inclined angle averaged 67.3° with a standard deviation of 3.22°, while the recommended angle is 75.5°. Only a few participants used the methods that they learned during training in their daily work.
Highlights
Data from the Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index (Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety 2014) show that the costs for disabling workplace injuries in 2012 due to falls to a lower level in the USA were estimated to be approximately 5.12 billion US dollars or 8.6% of the total cost burden
This study explored ladder set-up behaviours in a field environment since falls from ladders are an important occupational safety problem
Professional installers of a company in the cable and other pay TV industry were observed for ladder set-up at their actual worksite on one of their typical workdays
Summary
A slip of the ladder at the base has been a common cause of portable straight ladder incidents (Axelsson and Carter 1995; Björnstig and Johnsson 1992; Häkkinen, Pesonen, and Rajamaki 1988; Hsiao et al 2008; Lombardi et al 2011). In 49% of straight ladder incidents, the inclined angle was less than 65°, reported by Axelsson and Carter (1995). Chang et al (2004), and Chang, Chang, and Matz (2005) reported that the average friction requirement at the ladder base to support human climbing increased by approximately 75% when the inclined angle was reduced from 75° to 65°. If the angle is too large (the base of the ladder is too close to the wall), there is a risk of the ladder tipping over backwards
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