Following an interesting exchange of views on the WAH Regs, where a Contractor deemed it "best practice" to use a ladder on top of fixed scaffold to gain extra height. The scaffold was commissioned and planned by the Contractor but was not high enough. Given that the ladder was leant against the top handrail we deemed it unsafe and stopped the activity. However, although the Regs depict lots of info on ladder positioning etc., under various sections, I cannot seem to find anything that specifically states that ladders shall not be used on scaffolds to increase the working level height of employees. (Yet working with a lot of US companies, it IS spelt out in OSHA Regs) The Contractor now is claiming additional costs for down time whilst additional scaffolding was erected (which was paid for by the Client) Despite not planning the works sufficiently (reg 4) what would you see to be the redress? Be interested to hear from my learned brethen your thoughts!

I agree. To add to that, if i was the client, i would also remove said contractor from doing any future work if they believe using a ladder on a scaffold platform is 'best practice'