Ladder Safety JSA

Ladders are the most familiar piece of equipment on a site and one of the most consistently misused. Almost every ladder incident traces back to one of four things: the ladder was the wrong tool for the job, it was set up badly, it was damaged, or somebody carried something up it.

A ladder JSA is short by nature. Its value is in forcing the question most crews skip: could this work be done from something other than a ladder?

What the work involves

• Selecting the right ladder type and duty rating for the task
• Setting up on firm, level ground at the correct angle
• Securing or footing the ladder against movement
• Climbing and working from the ladder with tools
• Inspecting and removing damaged ladders from service

Hazards and controls

Controls are listed in hierarchy order — the further down the list a control sits, the less it should be carrying on its own.

1. Ladder slips or kicks out during use

• Eliminate: use a scaffold, a platform or a mobile lift for anything beyond brief, light work.
• Engineering: set a non-self-supporting ladder at a 4-to-1 pitch — the base out one quarter of the working length — on firm level footing, and secure or tie off the top.
• Administrative: a second person foots the ladder where it cannot be tied; no setting up on boxes, pallets or unstable bases.

29 CFR 1926.1053(b)(5)(i) requires non-self-supporting portable ladders to be used at an angle where the horizontal distance from the top support to the foot is about one quarter of the working length. 29 CFR 1926.1053(b)(6) requires ladders to be used only on stable and level surfaces unless secured to prevent displacement.

2. Fall while stepping off at a landing

• Engineering: extend the side rails at least 3 feet above the landing surface, or secure the top and add a grab rail where that is not possible.
• Engineering: a gate or offset at the landing so nobody steps backwards into the opening.
• Administrative: face the ladder and keep three points of contact through the transition.

29 CFR 1926.1053(b)(1) requires the side rails of a ladder used to access an upper landing surface to extend at least 3 feet above it, or the ladder to be secured with a grasping device provided.

3. Contact with overhead power lines while carrying or raising a ladder

• Eliminate: survey the route and the work position for overhead lines before the ladder leaves the truck; pick a different access point.
• Engineering: non-conductive ladder where any electrical exposure remains; de-energize or have the line covered by the utility where practicable.
• Administrative: carry ladders horizontally and low; maintain the clearance distance from energized lines.

29 CFR 1926.416(a)(1) prohibits employees from working in such proximity to any energized electric power circuit that they could contact it, unless protected by de-energizing and grounding or by effective insulation.

4. Use of a damaged or defective ladder

• Engineering: withdraw defective ladders from service and tag them so they cannot be picked up again.
• Administrative: a visual inspection by the user before each use, and a periodic documented inspection.
• Administrative: never a field repair that restores less than the original strength.

29 CFR 1926.1053(b)(16) requires portable ladders with structural defects to be immediately marked defective or tagged "Do Not Use" and withdrawn from service until repaired.

5. Overreaching, or climbing with a load in hand

• Eliminate: hoist tools and material up on a line, or use a tool belt — hands stay free for the ladder.
• Administrative: move the ladder rather than leaning; keep the belt buckle inside the rails.
• Administrative: do not stand on the top step or top cap of a stepladder.

29 CFR 1926.1053(b)(13) prohibits using the top or top step of a stepladder as a step. 29 CFR 1926.1060(a) requires a training program for each employee using ladders, covering the nature of the hazards and the correct procedures.

A worked example row

This is how one line of the finished JSA reads, with the risk bands scored on the same 4-band matrix the generator prints:

Related work activities

• Working at Heights JSA
• Scaffold JSA
• Roofing JSA