"man ... lost his footing while ascending the ladder...."

Falls are the leading cause of fatalities in the construction industry. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents involving falls from ladders. The use of portable ladders is a hazard that goes unnoticed in many of our plants. Why? Mainly because their use is infrequent and for a short period of time. Regardless, proper usage and placement of portable ladders is a hidden hazard in many of our plants. Here is a recent story that emphasizes that need for ladder safety.

An electrical contractor fell into a sulphuric acid at an aluminium processing factory in Southeast Asia here one morning during the week of October 18, 2015. In the 11.20am incident, the 25-year-old man had gone up to the second floor of the factory to fix a ventilation fan above the tank. A witness said the man had lost his footing while ascending the ladder, causing him to fall into the tank. Fortunately, the tank was only filled with two per cent of sulphuric acid at the time of incident. The chemical is often used in metal smelting. Local Fire and Rescue Department hazardous materials team (Hazmat) arrived a minute after a distress call was received. Officials said the man sustained slight acid burns to his foot. He was also reported to have hurt his back and arm due the impact of the fall. “The factory’s emergency unit alerted the Fire and Rescue Department. Our Hazmat team sent him to the local hospital immediately for treatment,” the department said in a statement.

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays that the injured worker recovers fully from his physical and any mental injuries that resulted from this incident. The story does not specifically state that the ladder in question was portable in nature. But, the APSB made the assumption that it was due the maintenance activity that was being performed.

There is a plethora of portable ladder safety educational material available for your plant. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has numerous valuable resources available. Unfortunately, the resources are spread out through its website. The APSB always recommends utilizing the search function of government safety organizations websites.

OSHA has information about Falls-Ladder Safety here. As well as Portable Ladder Safety here. The Health & Safety Executive (H&SE) has numerous educational documents about working safely on portable ladders. One such document can be found here.

In addition some plants would rather show a video to their workers about the portable ladder safety. The video below seems do an adequate job on explaining the hazards associated with working on a portable ladder. The video also explains all of the different types of ladders too.

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