Ladder Safety: Familiar Task, Persistent Risk
A serious roof fall at a school shows why ordinary tasks, informal arrangements and unsecured access equipment can combine to produce life-changing consequences.
A foreseeable task, not an exceptional event
A recent prosecution involving a multi-academy trust has again highlighted the risks created when work at height is treated as a quick, familiar job rather than a planned activity.
A school site supervisor suffered life-changing injuries after falling while using an unsecured ladder to retrieve footballs from a roof. There was no edge protection and the task was not supported by a specific work-at-height risk assessment or safe system of work. The academy trust was fined £32,000.
The circumstances are specific to a school, but the lesson applies across sectors. Roof access, clearing gutters, retrieving objects, reaching signage, changing decorations and carrying out minor maintenance are all foreseeable activities. Their informality can make them more dangerous because people act before the organisation’s normal planning and authorisation controls engage.
Ladders are not banned, but they are not the starting point
Health and Safety Executive guidance is clear that ladders and stepladders can be sensible and proportionate equipment for low-risk, short-duration work. “Short duration” is not a permission in itself, however. The first questions remain whether work at height can be avoided and, if it cannot, what equipment provides the right level of protection for the task and conditions.
When a ladder is selected, the assessment should consider:
- the height, duration and physical demands of the task;
- the ground, surface and weather conditions;
- whether the person can maintain a secure handhold;
- the need to carry tools or materials;
- the position of doors, vehicles, pedestrians and other activity;
- how the ladder will be stabilised and secured; and
- the competence and physical capability of the user.
The problem with “just this once”
Many serious incidents begin with a reasonable operational need and an unreasonable shortcut. The football needs retrieving. A leak needs looking at. A display needs fixing before opening. Someone has used the ladder before and expects the job to take only a few minutes.
These are predictable pressures. A mature system anticipates them and makes the safe route easier than improvisation. That means deciding in advance:
- who is authorised to access roofs, lofts or other high-level areas;
- which tasks are prohibited without a permit or management approval;
- what equipment is available and where it is kept;
- when a contractor or mobile access platform is required;
- how urgent out-of-hours work will be controlled; and
- who can stop the job when the conditions differ from the plan.
Five checks for a more reliable ladder system
Start with foreseeable tasks
Review incident records, maintenance requests and local knowledge. If footballs regularly reach a roof or seasonal decorations are installed every year, the activity belongs in the organisation’s risk assessment and planning arrangements.
Control access to access equipment
Ladders should not simply be available to anybody who wants to complete a task. Storage, issue and authorisation arrangements should reflect the level of risk and the organisation’s operating model.
Keep the register connected to reality
A ladder register is only useful if it covers the equipment that is actually present, uniquely identifies each item and prompts removal from use when defects are found. Local or privately supplied equipment can easily sit outside the formal system.
Check competence in practice
Training records do not establish that a person will select, position and use a ladder safely in real conditions. Supervisors should reinforce expectations, challenge unsafe choices and make sure employees know when not to proceed.
Learn from small deviations
An unsecured ladder, an improvised footing or an unauthorised roof visit may not result in injury every time. Treating these as valuable warning signs allows the organisation to correct the system before the outcome is more serious.
Questions for managers
- Which routine tasks could lead somebody to use a ladder without formal approval?
- Do our risk assessments cover roof access, gutters, retrieval tasks, displays and seasonal work?
- Can we account for every ladder and stepladder on site?
- Are inspection results linked to quarantine, repair or disposal?
- Would staff know who to contact if a task could not be completed safely?
- Are arrangements still effective during holidays, inset days, shutdowns or reduced supervision?
The key message
The presence of a ladder does not make a task safe, and the familiarity of a job does not make it low risk. Good work-at-height management makes foreseeable tasks visible, selects equipment on the basis of risk and prevents operational pressure from becoming permission to improvise.
Technical source note
Source article supplied by Justin Smith, based on a recent school roof-fall prosecution.
HSE, Ladders and stepladders: https://www.hse.gov.uk/work-at-height/ladders/index.htm
HSE, Work at height: https://www.hse.gov.uk/work-at-height/
PHSC can support organisations with work-at-height risk assessments, safe systems of work, site inspections, training and practical assurance reviews.
