I’m a lineman in Georgia. One night I was called to work on a line 300 feet off the ground in order to restore power to about 30,000 homes during a storm. Normally when we use straight fiberglass ladders with hooks on the end that hang on lines in order to climb down and access [...]
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Long-Term Effects of Falls from Less than 6 Feet
In 1995, a study by Olof Axelsson and Ned Carter profiled 85 people who were injured in ladder accidents. The study detailed how the accidents happened and how the people were affected in both the short term and long term. The most common reason for a straight ladder accident was the base sliding out. Stepladder [...]
View ArticleHow is this going to end?
Anyone care to point out the OSHA and/or common sense violations in this one? If this thing goes wrong, it’s going wrong in a bad way, with several people potentially severely injured by a falling refrigerator and a falling Darwin Award nominee. I really hope it ended well, but there had to be a better [...]
View ArticleEven a Moderate Accident Can Set You Back Five Years
I see a lot of statistics on the number of deaths and injuries reported per year by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as the financial impact those deaths or injuries have on companies. For instance in 2011 there were 4,690 deaths from work-related accidents (more than 350 involved ladders) and three million injuries. [...]
View ArticleSometimes You Do Everything Right, and Stuff Still Happens
This story is actually more of an “accident prevented” case study. In my work as the national safety director (a.k.a. ladder safety guy), I hear a lot of heartbreaking stories. More sad than good for sure. So when I hear a happy story like this, I want to share it. This story came to us [...]
View Article“Jim was an inspiration to us all.”
This is one of those stories that you don’t want to share, but you know people can learn something from it. The cause of this accident is unknown, because there were no witnesses. So we can only wonder how it could have been prevented. Perhaps the hardest part of this story is the fact that [...]
View ArticleRungs vs. Rails: The Debate
The editors of Safety & Health magazine asked their readers to share their opinions on holding the side rails of a ladder versus holding the rungs while ascending or descending. They received some very interesting responses. Click here for the full Safety & Health article. (Pages 10 and 11) What do you think? Should you [...]
View ArticleSomething’s going to break
There is nothing safe about this at all. I just keep waiting for the blocks to slip out or the guy to fall over. Most ladder accidents are caused by not having the right size of ladder and over reaching. This guy is in for some trouble then. He is not using the correct ladder [...]
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Following a Higher Calling
Find the full article on the online version of the October 2012 Occupational Safety & Health Magazine Every day, more than 500 people go to the hospital because of a ladder-related accident. Don’t be one of them. By David Francis, National Safety Director, Little Giant Ladder Systems Oct 01, 2012 As the national safety director [...]
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