Evaluating the stability requirements for mounting and dismounting from the top of leaning ladders

This report details the methodology and findings of an investigation into the suitability of leaning ladders as a means to access high surfaces. This work has been funded by the Health and Safety Executive to provide a factual basis on which to make recommendations regarding safe practice. In particular it addresses a gap in the knowledge generated in previous studies into safe ladder use. This gap is generated by those individuals for whom the pressures of work make use of a ladder necessary but for whom safe practice is compromised. In particular, environmental demands, multiple unpredictable locations and challenging tasks combine to make a ladder an obvious, yet arguably unsafe, choice of equipment.