Ladder safety
Hi all,
We had an accident where an employee used a ladder to lock a cover box and when he reached out he tore a muscle in his arm. He was not holding anything other than a key. Due to overextension he strained his arm ad MRI shows potential tearing.
I’m looking for options for ladders that can be placed around immovable pieces of equipment to prevent the user from reaching out. Sometimes maintenance is required to reach a lightbulb (for example) located over equipment, or things on the wall that has equipment in front.
Do you all know if any options that can be used or done for corrective action? I tried looking up different ladder styles but I don’t know that any of these would work.
Comments (6)
LOBO might be an alternative. I don't know the layout or how much room you have.
In the past, I've had stairs and ladders custom built on or around the equipment.
Rolling stairs with a platform might help. A Cotterman is what is listed with Grainger.
https://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/5FYW4_AS01?hei=1072&wid=1072
From a WC $ perspective if you are self-insured you better be braced for a huge reserve increase! If it is a tear in the upper arm or shoulder you are talking six figures. My last bicep repair (managing the claim) was >$125,000. If it is a bad rotator cuff tear you can double that! I once had one that topped $500,000. If you have an insurance carrier, this will not help your Mod Rate at all! Depending on your experience may blow it up! Managing cases I hated to see that "tear' word! Sometime pure "safety" people do not realize the cost of some of these things! In my experience the most expensive injuries are bad burn cases, but then Ergo ones! To be honest it sounds like this was one of those deals where the incident did not cause the entire injury, age and long use was probably causing the tear, this was just the straw that broke....... To answer your question it would help to have more on exactly how and where the accident occurred. All the above are very good choices. Could the person have used a scissors lift?
Scissor lift - $45,000. Sounds pricey, but compared to the $$ in medical, restricted work, training someone else to do that job etc - well worth the investment
Little Giant Ladders model with a working platform. Helps us keep employees from working in the pipe racks or from reaching/stretching out.