Face the ladder and keep a grip
Ladders 5 min 29 CFR 1926.1053
Why it matters
People come off a ladder when they turn sideways, hug a bulky load, or let go with both hands to shift a tool. Face the ladder on the way up and down. Do not carry a load that can make you fall. Keep three points on the ladder, and send tools up on a belt or a line.
The talk
A worker starts up an extension ladder with a coil of cable over one shoulder and a drill in the other hand. Their chest faces the wall, not the rungs, so they can see the opening they are heading for. Halfway up they let go to shift the coil. For a second neither hand is on a rail. Another person comes down facing out, the way you walk a stair, with a box of fittings against their body. The box hits a rung. A foot misses. The ladder may be set at the right angle, and the person still falls because of how they climbed it. That is the picture for this talk.
Face the ladder when you go up or down. The rule you can state is that one: face the ladder, and do not carry a load that can make you fall. Do not carry a load that makes you lose your balance. Keep three points of contact as the way you climb. That means two hands and a foot, or two feet and a hand, on the ladder while you move. Those words are how we climb. Do not claim they are a sentence written that way in the OSHA rule. The load is the other half. A bundle, a bucket, or a long pipe you have to hug will pull you off the rungs. Carry tools on a belt, or pull them up with a line after you are done climbing. Your hands stay for the ladder.
On today's climbs, face the rungs going up and face the rungs coming down. If a load is so big that you cannot keep your balance, do not carry it on the ladder. Break it up, use a hoist, or pull it up with a line once you are off the climb. Put the drill, the hammer, and the fittings on a belt or in a pouch before you step on. While you move, keep three points on the ladder: two hands and a foot, or two feet and a hand. Do not slide with your hands on the rails and your feet off the rungs. If a task needs both hands, do that task after you are off the ladder, not halfway up. Tell the foreman if the only way to move the material is a climb with no free hand.
Key points
- Face the ladder when you go up or down.
- Do not carry a load that can make you fall.
- Keep three points of contact while you climb.
- Two hands and a foot, or two feet and a hand, stay on the ladder.
- Carry tools on a belt or pull them up with a line.
- Do not claim the words three points are a sentence in the OSHA rule.
- Do two-handed work after you are off the ladder.
Do this
- Face the rungs on the way up and on the way down.
- Leave both hands free of bulky loads.
- Keep three points of contact as you climb.
- Put tools on a belt or send them up on a line.
- Stop a climb that needs you to hug the material.
Do not do this
- Do not climb with your back to the ladder.
- Do not carry a load that makes you lose your balance.
- Do not climb with a tool in each hand.
- Do not let go with both hands to shift a load on the way up.
- Do not say the OSHA rule is the sentence three points. State this: face the ladder, and do not carry a load that can make you fall.
Talk about it
- What are we carrying up ladders today, and which loads should go up on a line?
- Where will tools sit so both hands can stay on the ladder?
- Who stops a climb if someone starts up facing out or hugging a bundle?
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