By Nathan Taylor, CSP, CHST, AGC Safety Management Consultant
Here at AGC, we talk a lot about ladder safety, and rightly so. No matter how much we bring it up, workplace ladder injuries still occur regularly. As we head into the holiday season, I would like to remind everyone that falls from ladders are arguably more likely to happen at home than they are on the job. I could easily repeat the same statistics used in every ladder safety article ever written, but what might carry more weight is for you to call or ask someone you know who works in your local city’s Emergency Department during the holiday season. They will have a story to tell, and it isn’t pretty.
The problem is, people tend to view their homes as safe spaces, so the level of caution used often diminishes. Unlike our job sites, where there is compliance and training requirements and often a second set of eyes on us, the home environment feels informal, and safety measures can be neglected. Tasks like hanging up holiday decorations or cleaning our gutters can feel routine, and the perceived familiarity often leads to carelessness.
Your house is going to look better this Halloween and Christmas with some well-placed lights and decorations, but don’t ruin your holiday season by being injured or dead. A lot of people think of ladders as the safest option for the average homeowner. But please, please remember that just because a ladder is the safest tool you have for accessing those hard-to-reach places, it does not mean that using your ladder is safe. Even a properly used ladder is still dangerous!
For specific information on how to properly use a ladder, please look at every other ladder safety article ever written. This article is a reminder that ladders are dangerous and should be used with an abundance of caution. On behalf of your AGC Oregon-Columbia Chapter staff, we sincerely hope to see you alive and well in January… and February… or March… or whenever your spouse forces you to get those holiday lights off the house.