Common ladder accident causes and Rojak Design solutions
 How do the most common ladder accidents occur?
The majority of ladder accidents are caused by improper use or a damaged or badly maintained ladder.
How can a Rojak Design Ladder Stabiliser help to prevent them?
We have spent many years developing and refining our range of high quality ladder stabiliser products. Listed below you will find common ladder failure modes and the subsequent Rojak Design solutions.
With Rojak Design it's easy to find the right safety equipment to prevent ladder accidents before they happen
You should always follow the manufacturer’s instructions when using a ladder, and you should ensure that all ladder users are properly trained and equipped – the HSE provides guidance on safe ladder use here:
www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg402.pdf
However, even a fully trained operator using best practice with a high-quality, well maintained ladder can suffer an accident due to the inherent limitations of the traditional ladder design or the site conditions where the ladder is used. The different failure modes for an unsecured (i.e. not tied to the supporting structure at top or bottom) leaning ladder are:
Ladder accident 1
Bottom slip
In this failure mode the feet of the ladder slip outwards away from the wall and the ladder and user fall - most often this happens suddenly and catastrophically.
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Ladder accident 2
Stile flip
The load on the ladder becomes unbalanced, normally due to the ladder user reaching outwards whilst working at height, and one of the ladder stiles loses contact with the ground. As a result the ladder pivots around the other stile and falls sideways.
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Ladder accident 3
Side slip
This failure mode is similar to stile flip in that it caused by the shifting of the ladders load sideways. However, in this mode the shift is large enough to move the user’s centre of gravity outside one of the stiles, causing the opposite stile to lift off the ground and the entire ladder to fall sideways.
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Ladder accident 4
Sloping ground
The rungs of a ladder must be horizontal for it to be stable. This is not normally possible if an unenhanced ladder’s feet are on sloping ground.
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Ladder accident 5
Uneven ground
The rungs of a ladder must be horizontal for it to be stable. This is not normally possible if an unenhanced ladder’s feet are on uneven ground.
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Ladder accident 6
Corner work
If a standard free-standing ladder is supported against the corner of a structure, the top rung resting against the corner is the single upper contact point. This can act as a pivot, tilting the ladder and causing it to fall sideways.
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Ladder accident 7
Roof access
When a free standing ladder is used to access a flat or pitched roof, or other elevated area, there is a danger of it slipping sideways as the user’s weight transfers between the ladder and the supporting structure. A falling ladder can take the user with it, or injure others on the ground.
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Ladder accident 8
Fragile surfaces
A ladder should not be leant against fragile surfaces such as plastic guttering. Such surfaces will distort or break under the ladder user’s weight and may cause the ladder or user to fall.
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