3.2 Setting up and climbing

1 The 4-to-1 angle

29 CFR 1926.1053(b)(5)(i): non-self-supporting ladders shall be used at an angle such that the horizontal distance from the top support to the foot of the ladder is approximately one-quarter of the working length — the distance along the ladder between the foot and the top support. That is the familiar 4:1 rule, about 75 degrees from horizontal.

Too steep and the ladder tends to pull away from the wall as you near the top. Too shallow and the feet slide out — the most common and most violent ladder failure, because it happens without warning and drops you flat.

Two field checks that need no tape. Stand with your toes against the ladder feet and put your arms straight out at shoulder height: your palms should just reach the rung in front of you. Or use the marking many manufacturers now mold into the rail, which lines up when the angle is right. Both are approximations — which is exactly the word the standard uses.

2 What the ladder stands on, and what holds it

The standard is blunt about the base. 1926.1053(b)(6): ladders shall be used only on stable and level surfaces unless secured to prevent accidental displacement. 1926.1053(b)(7): not on slippery surfaces unless secured or fitted with slip-resistant feet — and slip-resistant feet are explicitly not a substitute for care in placing, lashing, or holding a ladder on surfaces that cannot be kept from becoming slippery, such as flat metal or smooth concrete.

1926.1053(b)(8) covers the other classic: ladders placed anywhere they can be displaced by workplace activities or traffic — passageways, doorways, driveways — shall be secured against displacement, or a barricade used to keep the traffic away. And 1926.1053(b)(9): the area around the top and bottom of the ladder shall be kept clear.

1. 1
   Level the feet, do not shim them. A block of wood under one rail is not a level surface; use a ladder leveler made for the ladder, or dig the high side in.
2. 2
   Tie it off at the top to a fixed point whenever it will be there more than a few minutes, and always where the top support is a gutter, a pipe, or anything round.
3. 3
   Both rails bear on the support at the top. A ladder resting on a single point pivots.
4. 4
   Doorway: lock it, block it, or post someone. A door opening into a ladder is a fall with no reaction time.
5. 5
   Barricade the base in traffic areas, and keep the landing at the top clear of material.
6. 6
   Look up before you raise it. Overhead conductors, and 1926.1053(b)(12)'s nonconductive requirement, decide whether this ladder should be here at all.

3 Stepladders

A stepladder is self-supporting, which fools people into treating it as furniture. The rules that matter: the spreaders must be fully open and locked — a folded stepladder leaned against a wall is not a ladder in any recognized configuration; the top cap and the top step are not steps (1926.1053(b)(13)); and 1926.1053(b)(4) applies with full force — ladders shall be used only for the purpose for which they were designed.

That last one covers a long list of jobsite improvisation: a stepladder laid flat as a work platform, two stepladders with a plank across them, a stepladder used as a ramp, a ladder set on a scaffold deck or in the bucket of a machine to gain height. All of them are outside the design, and all of them appear in fatality reports.

4 Climbing: face it, hold it, carry nothing

Three consecutive paragraphs of the standard describe the climb, and they are the three habits that prevent most falls:

"At least one hand" is the legal minimum; three points of contact — two hands and a foot, or two feet and a hand — is the practice that makes it achievable. Which means the tools go up another way: a hand line, a bucket hoisted after you, a tool belt, or a coworker. Anything in your hand is a hand you do not have.

Stay centered. Your belt buckle should stay between the rails; the moment you lean past a rail to reach the last fastener, the ladder starts to tip sideways and the feet lose grip. Move the ladder. It is three seconds against a broken hip.

5 Working from a ladder, and when it stops being allowed

A ladder is an access device first and a work platform second, and it is not a fall protection system. Fall protection under Subpart M is triggered by working surfaces, not by ladders — but that does not mean a fall from a ladder is acceptable. It means the control is the setup, the angle, the tie-off, and the three points of contact.

Some situations move you off the ladder entirely: work that requires force (breaking a stuck fitting, pulling wire), work with a tool that can bind and kick (a hole saw, a large hammer drill), work in wind, and work that will take more than a few minutes at a stretch. In those cases the standard has not changed; the correct equipment has.

6 Three setup details people improvise

Both rails on the support. 29 CFR 1926.1053(b)(10) requires the top of a non-self-supporting ladder to be placed with the two rails supported equally, unless the ladder is equipped with a single support attachment. A ladder with one rail on a window sill and the other in the air pivots the moment your weight shifts sideways.

Grease and mud are a defect, not dirt. 1926.1053(b)(2) requires ladders to be maintained free of oil, grease and other slipping hazards. Mud carried up on boot soles is the version of this that causes falls in wet weather — scrape your boots at the bottom, and wipe rungs that have been dragged through a slab pour.

Do not overload it. 1926.1053(b)(3) prohibits loading a ladder beyond the maximum intended load for which it was built or beyond the manufacturer's rated capacity. That includes the bundle you hand up to someone standing on it, and it is one more reason materials go up on a hand line.

A word on wind. Nothing in Subpart X names a wind speed, because the safe limit depends on the ladder, the load and the exposure — but an extension ladder is a sail, and sheet goods carried on a ladder are worse. When the wind is moving your ladder while you set it, that is the answer: use a different platform, or wait.

7 Setup checklist

Run this before your first step every time. It takes about thirty seconds once it is a habit.

• Right ladder for the job: duty rating covers me plus tools, length reaches without standing on the top step, nonconductive if there is anything electrical.
• Inspected: rails, rungs, feet, spreaders, rung locks, labels legible.
• Base on stable, level, non-slippery ground; not shimmed with scrap.
• Angle set 4:1 for an extension ladder; spreaders locked for a stepladder.
• Rails extend 3 feet above the landing, or the top is tied off with a grab rail available.
• Secured at the top, or footed and barricaded; doorways locked or blocked; top and bottom clear.
• Overhead lines identified and cleared; tools going up by hand line or belt, not in my hand.