Ihab Saad – Stairways and Ladders

Music.

Hello again to another safety class, and today we're going to

talk about stairways and ladders, which are part of either temporary

construction or part of permanent construction. So we're going to

talk about some of the issues related to their installation,

their use and their maintenance as well.

First of all, we're going to talk about the most cited violations,

or the most frequent frequent citations

that happened in the industry over the past year. For example,

1007

violations were reported related to the misuse of portable ladders

three feet above landing surface,

which is clause 1053, b1, under subpart x, which is ladders in our

codebook, 310, violations were related to improper installation

of C rails and handrails, which is clause 1052, c1,

294, violations for the lack of a training program, clause 1060, a,

221, violations related to misuse of ladders. 1053, before and 220,

violations related to stairways, the absence of stairways or

ladders when 19 inches or more break in elevation, which is

clause 1051, a now you should be able to extract these from the

code book. You should know how to read the code book and read these

different violations,

some facts about stairways and ladders as part of temporary

construction and maintenance work. Ladders are used extensively on

construction sites, so both during construction and after

construction as well for maintenance work,

stairways and ladders may cause injuries and fatalities among

construction workers, which are mostly due to falls, trips or

slips.

About half the injuries caused by slips, trips and falls from

ladders and stairways require time off the job for people to recover,

because you might have broken limbs, for example, severe

injuries that require some time off the job. The

learning objectives from this lecture. By the end of this

presentation, you should be able to recognize the importance of

ladders and stairways in construction. Identify ladders and

stairways main design and installation criteria. There are

certain numbers that you have to remember, and certain slopes and

so on,

and visually identify and list violations from pictures. This, by

the way, could be part of your photo case study, which is the

project for this, course, you can go to construction sites and start

documenting issues related to stairways and ladders whether they

are installed properly. You're gonna say that this is installed

properly, and you're gonna cite the clause that shows that this is

a proper installation or that this should be a citation or a

violation. And again, you're gonna cite the the clause that shows

that this is a violation. So whether it's correct, you're gonna

comment on it, or if it's done improperly, you're also going to

comment on it. And what should the correction be?

Where should we have stairways or ladders? There must be a stairway

or ladder at points of access where there's an elevation break

of 19 inches or more, at least one point of access must be kept

clear. So this is the minimum requirement here. If you have a

difference in elevation of 19 inches or more, you must have a

step you must have a stairway or a ladder leading to that difference

in elevation,

a distinction between stair rails and handrails. Sometimes stair

rails could be also called guard rails versus hand rails, as you

can see here from this picture, the stair rail is going to be

installed on the outside of the stairs towards the open area,

whereas the handrail is going to be installed or mounted on a wall,

so this is away from the open side of the stairs.

The minimum strength required for these hand rails, or the top rail

or the guardrails is going to be to resist a force of 200 pounds a

person leaning on that guardrail or handrail, that handrail should

stop that person from falling, or stop the handrail itself from

breaking. It should resist that force of at least 200 pounds.

Here is a picture, for example, that shows a violation. Why is

there a violation here? Because there's a requirement stairways

with four or more risers or higher than 30 inches must be equipped

with at least one handrail. So if the difference in elevation is

more than 30 inches, of course, if it's more than 19 inches, then

we're gonna need.

Clothing trip or slip hazards.

So this is basically what it what it takes to know about stairs. Now

we're going to talk about ladders. So from stairs, we learned about

the 19 inch difference in elevation. We learned about four

steps or 30 inches. You must have a handrail or a guardrail. We

learned about the slope of the stairs between 30 and 50 degrees.

We talked also about the difference in the height of the

stairs, or the depth of the tread, no more than a quarter of an inch,

to provide uniformity. We talked about the landing dimensions 30 by

22 at least. We talked about the handrail height, 42 inches plus or

minus three inches. It can be up plus or minus three inches. We

talked also about the if you have a door opening on the landing,

then you should have at least 20 inches beyond the edge of the

door. And finally, we talked about the the necessity of providing a

landing for every 12 feet, maximum of 12 feet of difference in

elevation, you have to provide a landing. And of course, we're

gonna keep the stairs and the landing clean and clear of any

obstacles or of any slippery material or anything that can hang

or snag or

get caught in clothes leading to tripping or sleeping hazards. This

is basically the summary of what we discussed so far about

stairways. Now let's talk about ladders.

General ladder requirements, ladders must be kept in a safe

condition. What do we mean by safe condition? Keep the area around

the top and bottom of the ladder clear again, to prevent tripping

and slipping. Ensure rungs, these are called the rungs, which are

the steps of the ladder, cleats

here at the bottom and steps are level and uniformly spaced, again,

similar to what we had in the stairs. For the uniformity, you

should not have any difference more than a quarter of an inch.

Again, while climbing a ladder is going to be sort of a mechanical

motion, so you want your hands and your muscle memory to adjust to

that height without much difference in the distances

between the different steps. Ensure rungs are spaced 10 to 14

to 14 inches apart, so that spacing is going to be anywhere

between 10 to 14 inches. Less than that is going to be too

cumbersome, and more than that is going to be far harder to reach.

Keep ladders free from slipping hazards. Again, if you're going to

use any slippery material, make sure that if you have any drops

falling on these steps to clean them before using the ladder.

Use ladders only for their designed purpose. Unfortunately,

people misuse these ladders. They are designed primarily to move

from one level to another, or to stand on on that ladder, if it's

properly supported, to do certain types of jobs. But misusing these

ladders usually leads to the collapse of that platform and to

some severe injuries. So don't tie ladders together to make longer

sections, unless designed for such use. Don't use single rail

ladders.

Don't load ladders beyond the maximum load for which they were

built or beyond the manufacturer's rated capacity. Each ladder is

going to come with a sort of a sticker on the side of the ladder

showing its specifications and the maximum load that it should

support.

What we have here is an improvisation. You see, they're

using the ladder as a platform for a platform, and it's very

unstable, and that doesn't show proper maintenance or proper use

of the ladders.

Securing ladders. Secure ladders to prevent accidental movement due

to workplace activity. So this ladder is just resting on this

ledge here. It's not supported in any way from the bottom or from

the top, so it can very easily be toppled. And that basically

defeats the purpose of using it only use ladders on stable and

level surfaces, unless secured. I'm not exactly sure whether it's

it's very

flat or stable or level surface here at the bottom. So again, this

is another, another issue, because that ladder is not secured. Do not

use ladders on slippery surfaces unless secured or provided with

slip resistance, resistant feet, some rubbery material that can

hold itself and prevent the the ladder from moving or from

slipping due to that slip.

Well, like this one here, we have a cage and multiple ladder

sections, each section not exceeding 50 feet.

So these are three means of protection from falling, using

fixed ladders if they are 24 feet or longer.

Also, since we're going to be working at a higher level, we

might get close to power lines. So if you're going to work near

energized electrical equipment, if using ladders, where the employee

or the or the ladder could contact exposed energized electrical

equipment, they must have non conductive side rails, such as

wood or fiberglass, to break the circuit and not allow for the

current to flow through the body of the person working on this

ladder. So here we show here a an aluminum or a metal ladder, so and

working very close to power line or a energized electrical line,

this is definitely a very unsafe practice. We I don't think we have

the three foot extension either here at the top. So there are

multiple, multiple violations here,

the top step never, ever use the top step or the top of the ladder,

because so the top step should not be used as a step, nor the top of

the ladder these you should not use. So here we have a violation.

This is a well designed ladder. It shows here the sticker that has

the information about its design and about the maximum load and

about its compliance with the codes and so on. It has the cross

bracing so the backgrounds as the front rungs are used for are

designed for you, so you can use it from either side. Don't use

cross bracing on the rear of a step ladder for climbing, unless

the ladder is designed for that. This is designed for that.

How to maintain and inspect ladders. We learned before in

another presentation about something called a competent

person. So a competent person is someone who has the proper

training, who can recognize the hazards and who can change the

hazardous condition and correct it. So a competent person must

inspect ladders for visible defects, like broken or missing

rungs. Here, for example, we have a missing run,

and it seems so rusty that's that does not seem to be very well

maintained. If a defective ladder is found, immediately, mark it

defective or tag it. Do not use and withdraw defective ladders

from service until repaired, because, again, they are going to

remain a falling hazard until they are corrected.

The correct way for climbing the ladder, believe it or not, there's

a correct way for climbing a ladder, which is basically

something called the three contact points. So face the ladder when

going up or down, use at least one hand to grab the ladder when going

up or down. So you're gonna have two hands and one foot, or one

hand and your two feet. So three points of contact between your

body and the ladder. Do not carry any object or load that could

cause you to lose balance. So again, lift the load first using

the proper lifting method. And as you can see here, if this is that

that does not seem like a landing surface, that's why we do not have

the three foot extension, and we have it tied off properly here,

and he seems to be maintaining the three point contact with the

ladder.

The slope seems to be okay as well. The 41 that we talked about,

what kind of training since we mentioned that one of the

violations is not providing a training program. So what kind of

training should we have? A competent person must train each

employee in the following areas as applicable,

the nature of fall hazards in the work area, so they should know

about the hazards of falling and what are the different elevations

where they should be tied and so on. The correct procedures for

erecting the ladders,

maintaining and disassembling them,

and the fall protection systems to be used

the proper construction use, placement and care in handling of

all stairways and ladders,

and the maximum intended load carrying capacities of ladders,

which, again, is going to be four times the weight of the person or

the load that's going to be put on this ladder.

So some of the major reasons for slips and falls common causes

here, and how can you help prevent these?

The user overreaches. How can we prevent that? Keep your body

centered within the ladder. Always keep three points of contact with

the ladder the user slips from the ladder. Keep the rungs clean and

in a good condition. Wear non slip footwear, if necessary, clean the

soles before using the ladder, and make sure that you are fit to work

at the height. Make sure that you are trained to use a ladder. Keep

the three points of contact and make sure the rungs are horizontal

and properly aligned. If the ladder wobbles, slips and falls

again, to avoid that position, the ladder correctly on the firm level

surface. Check the feet of the ladder daily. Fasten the ladder at

the top and bottom, and rest the ladder on the firm surface at the

top.

The risk of the leather breaking. Exam again, position the leather

properly. Use the one in full. Rule for the slope, do not exceed

the maximum weight limit on the ladder and only carry light

materials or tools up to 10 kilograms, which is about 25

pounds.

Alright, so basically, this is our presentation on stairways and

ladders. Now we're going to have a quick quiz to see if we could

remember some of the numbers, many numbers that we discussed in this

presentation,

a ladder of stairs have to be provided if there's a break in

elevation of

19 inches,

the slope of stairs should be between

30 and 50 degrees.

The spacing between ladder rungs should not exceed Do you remember

that number 10 and 14 inches

a double cleat ladder should be provided when ladders are the only

way to enter or exit the working area with how many or more

employees the cutoff number was 25

when using a portable ladder for access to an upper landing

surface, the side rails must extend at least how many feet?

Remember that at least three feet above the upper landing surface.

If you're placing a 16 foot portable run ladder against the

wall, the base should be how many feet from the wall? Remember the

slope?

One to four so which one eight feet? Definitely not two feet,

absolutely not. Doesn't make a difference. Of course it does. So

the correct answer should be four feet.

Here are some violations about the use of ladders. We have several

violations here. First of all, he used the top of the ladder. Not

only that, he placed something on top of it. So it's a double

whammy, so obviously that's a clear violation.

What can I say about that

that definitely is a huge violation,

okay, resting the ladder on top of the power lines. How genius.

No comment.

Does that look like a ladder that you should use in construction or

anywhere.

Again, necessity is the mother of creativity. You should not do that

at all for several reasons, working near a power line and then

supporting the ladder on the bucket, absolutely not

so several issues here, not proper tie off very tall ladder,

connecting more than two ladders together, and

I don't think that slope even is four to one, so There are probably

three or four violations here.

Another example.

First of all, again, the slope is not proper. There's no tie off.

They form that lat form from two that two ladders. And this is

extremely dangerous. Look at this one, for example, another very big

problem.

How about that,

resting the ladder on another ladder and resting it on glass,

which can break and cause injuries. The slope here is not

four to one again, three or four different violations here. Notice

that these are all actual pictures taken from actual construction

sites or construction related activities.

Genius.

So it might seem funny, but unfortunately, all of these

usually result in falls injuries and unfortunately in.

Some cases, fatalities. Imagine if this line is activated, or imagine

if that person falls from this ladder, that can lead to a huge

injury. So I hope that you've learned something about stairways

and ladders in this lecture, and you're going to have the proper

practice on your construction sites, and you can use some

pictures from your construction site to document either proper or

improper use of stairways and ladders, and I'll see you in

another lecture. You.