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Safest Method – Tower or Ladder?
When it comes to fitting a relatively small sign at no great height what would you deem to be the safest method?
Current dogma seems to be that ladders are frowned upon and that a tower should always be used even for a short duration job at relatively low height. However, I would argue that the erection of the tower is itself precarious involving some degree of heavy lifting and of course working at height during it’s construction.
So which is better/safer all around?
Turn up with a ladder – 15 minutes later – job done.
Turn up with a tower – 10 minutes later tower erected – further 10 minutes later sign fitted , and finally further ten minutes later tower disassembled and job done.
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7 Replies
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From a H&S point of view without a doubt a tower is safer than ladders Time shouldn’t really come into it
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Baton and tressells as an alternative. We use these a fair bit. 5metre baton so great instead of moving a low tower or up and down off ladders
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For me it depends on the circumstances and like Phil time and ease does make a difference whilst not having a perceivable risk factor.
For some of the internal work we do the client insists on a tower on all jobs over 1.5m foot level which is frankly a joke but instigated after a contractor was killed falling off a ladder…
I made one mistake about 10 years ago on a ladder and it’s something you never forget…I stepped back to ‘admire’ my work up a 3 stage…some rattled nerves and bashed shins.
It’s horses for courses…not blindly locked into one or the other.
On a note about baton & trestle.. Not overly keen on their use as probably the worst compromise as no means of stopping a fall.
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Second Ian on the Baton and tressells – We use these all the time…..
I’ve always wondered how much easier it would be if we have wheels on our Tressells…
We were recently fitting a dibond tray sign that was over 60m long around a building you can imagine the frustration of moving the tressells and baton board
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In NZ the max. legal height for working off a ladder is 3 meters, so the choice is academic. You have to use a cherrypicker or whatever.. But you can rent one without any training at all, or even an explanation by the hire company! Go figure!
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We’ve used ladders, fitted signs we probably shouldn’t have done off them.
We’ve hired towers on occasions, as Phil says it takes time to errect, but working was quicker/easier. Another down side is the minimum 1 week rental and transporting it between sites.
A compromise we’ve found is a cherry picker. There’s no requirement to have your ticket to rent one. Some clients might demand you have one.
Rent it, drive to site and crack on. I don’t think there’s a perfect method, all have pro’s and cons.
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As said previously, erecting and dismantling towers, along with the access and egress to get to the working platform, can expose the user to higher risks than using steps or ladders. This assumes that the steps and ladders are used correctly 🙂
With regard to Cherry Pickers and licenses, any hire company with let anyone use them, but wave goodbye to your liability insurance cover in the event of an accident/damage if you are unable to prove you are competent to operate one.
Basically, write a detailed risk and method statement (whether your client needs it or not) and this should lead to the correct decision being made for the selection of access equipment.
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