Rank: New forum user 
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Hi all, Last stage electrical works seem obsessed with using ladders for the works in flats just before pratical completion. Thier thinking is that fnished walls will not be scractched and they can swiftly move ladders from room to room.They are issued ladder permit systems for the whole day as a control on use.
I find this inadequate, i am constantly seeing guys standign at the top rung, twisting their bodies and just working unsafe. The site team are against podiums for fear of scratched walls.
what work at height equipment other than ladders can be used in this scenario
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Rank: Super forum user
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Entirely unconvinced that using ladders (I guess you mean stepladders) is more likely to result in damage to walls than using podiums or tower scaffolds!! If you could knock a lighweight aluminium portable means of access against the wall, then you could equally knock a stepladder against the wall. If they have problems in wheeling a full size tower through a doorway, then they could pick a narrow tower OR dismantle and reassemble. Sounds like a very feeble excuse and poor management (inclusive of overuse) of permits. Why not put the onus on site management to explain how they have worked down the hierarchy of control measures set out in the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and can JUSTIFY reliance on working from ladders. That would then also mean explaining how someone working from a ladder or stepladder is going to maintain their "three points of contact" at all times, including not only when doing the work but getting up and down the ladder! HSE stats are not quite as good as they used to be in terms of classifying fall from height injuries, but if you delve into the archives you will find plenty of reports that put falls from ladders high up on the list of causes. Look around for e.g. the HSE Construction "sector reports" for the back end of the 1970s and early 1980s when working from ladders was still generally accepted "custom and practice", especially for work at relatively low heights i.e. less than 2m or between 2 and 3m - the sort of fall distances that some studies have indicated account for a very high proportion of all fatal falls from height. P
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 1 user thanked peter gotch for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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There are ladders and there are ladders. If they are standing on the top rung, then surely it is too short for the task, whether its a single step instead of 2 steps or 8 steps instead of 9. There are lots variants around that have supports. What the OP doesn't assist with is the task and durtation. Is it a light bulb insert for 30 seconds in lots of rooms or 8hrs fine detail wiring at each position?
Lets go to basics. When the OP went and checked how the job was being done, what viable, practical and safe options were or could we suggest? We could dictate that a full internal raised floor scaffold system should be used - yes it might work well in one room, but the real world would say it never gets used in the subsequent 2nd or 3rd room onwards.
Instead of a simple NO to the use of ladders, can we have a bit more detail on the task and scenario.
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