SHOP TALK
Stepping Up Ladder Safety RULES AND BEST PRACTICES FOR ROLLING LADDERS AND WORK PLATFORMS
Of all the complex and technical tasks that aircraft maintenance personnel accomplish in a given day, climbing up and down a ladder seems like the simplest of undertakings. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that each year in the United States there are more than 164,000 injuries treated in emergency rooms and 300 deaths that occur as a direct result of falls from ladders. Framed another way, the United States leads the world in total number of ladder related deaths each year, with most falls occurring from heights of ten feet or less. Given these harrowing statistics, it is easy to understand why ladder related citations remain a permanent fi xture on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) “top ten” list of most frequently cited
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violations (currently occupying the #6 spot on 2018’s list). Faced with these overwhelming statistics, many aviation facilities believe that a cursory internet search for OSHA compliant ladders is all that is needed to protect their personnel and ensure compliance with existing regulation. However, a quick perusal of the more than 64 million results that emerge from this internet search is bound to leave the most voracious speed-reader confused about how to best proceed. In view of the ramifi cations that can result from non-compliance, it is imperative that aerospace facilities are educated about applicable regulations and best practices. To begin, in 2017, OSHA issued
its fi nal rule on Walking-Working Surfaces and Personal Fall Protection
Systems (29 CFR part 1910, subpart D). The aim of this fi nal rule was to better protect workers in general industry from hazards by aligning regulation with advancements in best practices and technology. Some of the most signifi cant changes to emerge from this new regulation were the alterations made to the safety requirements for mobile ladder stands and mobile ladder stand platforms, two equipment staples popular with aviation maintenance professionals. In an eff ort to establish greater
continuity, OSHA took the publication of this new rule as an opportunity to provide clearer and more concise defi nitions for words that are utilized across multiple industries. More specifi cally, it defi ned mobile ladder stands (often referred to as ladder stands or rolling
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