Hazards: Ladder base sliding out · Fall while stepping on or off at the top · Ladder tipping sideways or being struck in a doorway · Contact with overhead power lines
Why it matters
Ladders were the primary source of 8.2% of construction fatal injuries in 2022 — 90 deaths (CPWR Data Bulletin, July 2024, from BLS CFOI). Almost none of them fell because the ladder broke. On November 8, 2024, a worker used a 16-foot telescopic ladder that, fully extended, reached one to two rungs above the fascia. He fell 14 feet onto a concrete driveway getting on or off the roof and was killed (OSHA Accident Summary Nr 171747.015). The ladder was fine. The setup was not.
Key points
- The 4-to-1 is on the working length, not the ladder. 1926.1053(b)(5)(i) measures foot to top support: a 24-foot ladder landing 16 feet up sits about 4 feet out, not 6.
- Three feet of rail above the landing. 1926.1053(b)(1), every time you step off. Two rungs is not three feet. If it will not reach, tie the top to a rigid support that will not deflect and add a grabrail.
- Both feet down, both rails even, square to the wall. Stable and level ground, or the ladder is secured — (b)(6). One foot in soft dirt is a slide waiting to happen.
- Rubber feet are not a plan. (b)(7) is explicit: slip-resistant feet are not a substitute for placing, lashing or holding the ladder on a slippery surface.
- Set the dogs before you climb. Both rung locks fully seated on both rails, checked from the ground where you can see them.
- Tie the top, or block the bottom. A ladder in a passageway, doorway or drive lane is secured or barricaded — (b)(8). Keep the top and bottom clear — (b)(9).
- Nobody moves a ladder with somebody on it. (b)(11): not moved, not shifted, not extended while occupied.
- Look up before it goes up. Nonconductive rails near exposed energized equipment — (b)(12) — and 10 feet from power lines.
Do / Don't
Do
- Measure the base offset off the working length.
- Tie the top off at every access point before the first climb.
- Level the feet on plywood or a leveler.
- Climb down and reset instead of walking the ladder over.
Don't
- Step off onto a roof with less than 3 ft of rail above it.
- Set a ladder on boxes, barrels, pallets or backfill.
- Leave a ladder in a doorway or drive lane unsecured.
- Trust rubber feet on steel deck, wet concrete or ice.
Quick site check
- The two closest ladders: measure the base offset and the rail above the landing.
- Which ladders are tied off at the top, and is the knot still there after last night's wind?
- What is under the feet — solid level ground, or dirt, mud, gravel?
Discussion — ask the crew
- Take the tallest ladder here: what is its working length, and how far out should the base be?
- Where are we stepping off onto a roof or a deck with less than three feet of rail sticking up?
- Which ladder here is tied off at the top right now — and who tied it?
- What are we standing ladders on today — dirt, mud, or something level and solid?
Refs: 29 CFR 1926.1053 — Ladders: (b)(1), (b)(5)(i), (b)(6)-(b)(12), (a)(7) · OSHA Fact Sheet 3660 — Reducing Falls in Construction: Safe Use of Extension Ladders · OSHA Accident Search — Summary Nr 171747.015, 11/08/2024 · CPWR Data Bulletin, July 2024 — Fatal Injury Trends in Construction (BLS CFOI) · 29 CFR 1910.23 — Ladders (general industry): (c)(4)-(c)(13)Sign-in sheet included in the printed version