Posted By Ron Young On one of my company buildings we have a number of security camera's and lights mounted on the wall at heights of approximately 6 metres. I recently found out that when maintenance work was required on these units, it was normal for our employees to use a ladder, fixed at the bottom and working off that. Once I heard of this, I carried out a risk assessment of the work and stopped it happening. The ground is not suitable for a MEWP and the only other way of accessing these camera safely appears to be by mounting them on telescopic or drop mounts, which is proving to be a very expensive avenue. Does anyone have other ideas on how to solve this problem

Posted By Ron Young Thanks Bob, I forgot to mention in the posting that this has also been thought of but due to land undulations, it might not be the ideal situation in all of the locations

Posted By Robert K Lewis Ron Absolutely nothing - providing 3 points of contact can be maintained at all times, the work is of short duration - but how short is long and there is no other suitable alternative. Bob

Posted By Richard Hinckley Ron As a business we have been involved with a number of major companies who install security cameras and communications dishes etc... using temporary ladders for short duration work as you describe. There is obviously a number of issues assosciated with this work and you have indicated how due to ground conditions this work can only be conducted from a ladder. Working with these companies we have developed a Safe System of Work whereupon a temporary bespoke safety anchor is installed into the wall and the ladder is subsequently tied into the structure. As the ladder cannot now move laterally the operative can use a full body safety harness and temporary fall arrest system for vertical protection. If the camera is to be accessed on a frequent basis you could consider the installation of permanent ladder ties used in conjunction with restraint webbing straps. This proceedure is now considered the most suitable for temporary ladder access within this area of work and one that is widely used and that we train upon.

Posted By Richard Hinckley Robert, we are certainly seeing more and more the installation of the cameras mounted on rooftops with swing in booms for maintenance. There is often the rooftop safety issue to solve, but that is often resolved with a passive edge protection system. Also seeing a lot of elevated cameras where the units can be lowered to ground on monopoles for maintenance. Still though, thousands out there accessed via ladders.....

Posted By Robert K Lewis In most situations I prefer to use inertia reel type lanyards as they lock before the fall has reached any significant value, only problem on ladders is that we need to "lock back" onto the harness in order to form a stable triangle of forces, thus entailing the need for a fixed length. I think it better to secure the ladder to the eyebolt and to use a continuous loop landyard around the ladder stiles. The company called Ladderfix developed this technique back in the 80s and the HSE were content at the time. It's big advantage was that the fall distance was minimal and the ladder stayed upright. In these circumstances self rescue was possible, but in absolute emergencies you could breach the one man to a ladder rule I suppose - or dare I say it use a second ladder to assist. By the way you do insist on all your ladder users wearing shoes/boots with heels and not a single flat sole and heel. Bob

Posted By Ron Young Hi Brett, Thanks for your comment. It is hard landscaping that prevents some of the cameras from being accessed by a MEWP