teqniqal
Well-Known Member
Really shouldn't ever be carrying anything in your hands while climbing any ladder. Use a hoist / davit arm / or rope and pulley to move things up/down in as a function separate from the climbing action. Your ground crew can handle the lifting while the climber can address the positioning issues without the burden of the equipment possibly dragging them over-center and falling from the ladder (or toppling a portable ladder).
The key element of most ladder mis-designs / mis-fabrications: There is an ANSI standard (A14.3) that defines all of the parameters of spacing, sizing, positioning, clearances, and hand holds for ladders. This is a long established standard that probably pre-dates the construction of the OP's venue. I routinely see ladders that are not constructed to this standard -- even in brand new buildings. If you need ammunition for fixing, replacing, or installing a new ladder, then reference this standard. This problem is frequently is the result of the Architect / Engineer not designing to or specifying that the ladders be built / installed to this standard, or the contractor / fabricator going off-script and not implementing this standard. This is why it is important to check submittals and verify on-site installations. You have to catch this stuff early in the process, as the farther it gets along in the construction cycle the more difficult it is to get anyone to fix it with filing a lawsuit. Sadly, most building inspectors are not familiar with the ANSI standard either, so they don't see the problems presented with improperly built / installed ladders.
Side note: The most recent changes to the OSHA fall protection regulations for fixed ladders has changed from requiring cages to requiring that the user wears a fall protection harness that either connects to the ventral D-ring (chest ring) to a cable that rises along a path just in front of the middle of the rungs; or a dorsal D-ring (middle of the back) that is connected to a self-retracting fall arrest cable system positioned above the climber. Either way, should the climber loose their footing or grip, they only fall a few feet before they are caught by the system. Research showed that someone falling inside a cage generally resulted in an undetermined drop distance before they might get tangled-up in the rungs and cage frame, sometimes severely compounding their injuries and making rescue extremely difficult. Retrofitting existing ladders to the new standard is a very simple pro-active update. You do not have to remove the cage, and yet still gain all of the fall protection benefits.
