Ladder Inspection
Service

Did you know?

For a lot of companies, working at height equipment such as stepladders and leaning ladders play an integral part in the day to day running and risk profile of your business.

Question to ask yourself, when was the last time, if ever, your stepladders and leaning ladders were formally inspected?

With falls from height being the biggest killer in the workplace, using stepladders and leaning ladders is no joke!  The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require that all equipment for work at height is inspected at intervals in accordance with the regulations.  It is recommended that stepladders and leaning ladders used on a daily basis are given a detailed inspected at three monthly intervals, whereas a stepladders and leaning ladders that are used once a week be given a six monthly detailed inspection.  You can also identify the frequency of inspection by undertaking a risk assessment, this can be very time consuming for your business, that is where we come in and is something that SM Safety Training & Consultancy are experts in, contact us today by pressing here (click here) for more information.

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What you must do:

You should inspect work equipment if your risk assessment identifies any significant risk (for example, of major injury) to operators and others from the equipment’s installation or use.  The result of the inspection should be recorded and this record should be kept at least until the next inspection of that equipment. Records do not have to be made in writing but, if kept in another form (e.g. on a computer), these should be held securely and made available upon request by any enforcing authority.  Work equipment that requires inspection should not be used, unless you know the inspection has taken place. Where it leaves your undertaking, or is obtained from another (e.g. a hire company) it should be accompanied by physical evidence of the last inspection, such as an inspection report or, for smaller items of equipment, some form of tagging, colour coding or labelling system.

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What you should know

PUWER regulation 6 specifies the circumstances where inspection is required to ensure healthy and safe conditions are maintained:

• Where the safety of work equipment depends on the installation conditions, it should be inspected after installation and before first use, and after reassembly at any new site / location.

• At suitable intervals, where work equipment is exposed to conditions causing deterioration liable to result in dangerous situations.

• Each time exceptional circumstances (e.g. major modifications, known or suspected serious damage, substantial change in the nature of use) are liable to have jeopardised the safety of the work equipment.

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Who should carry out the inspection of work equipment?

Equipment can be inspected by anyone who has sufficient knowledge and experience of it to enable them to know:

• what to look at

• what to look for

• what to do if they find a problem

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The necessary level of competence will vary for inspections, according to the type of equipment and how / where it is used. The nature of these inspections does not have to be determined by the same person who undertakes them, provided the person determining them is competent. This can often be done in-house by experienced staff, taking account of:

• the manufacturer’s recommendations

• industry advice

• their own experience of the equipment, its use, the particular factors of the workplace and the people using the work equipment​