With the warm months well on their way, you may be thinking about the outdoor jobs that you have been waiting to do. Maybe cleaning the gutters and downspouts or some exterior painting is on the list of tasks to get done. Many of these kinds of tasks require you to use a ladder. With this in mind, we felt that a few safety reminders regarding the use of ladders would be a good idea.
Before you even think about stepping on a ladder, you must ensure that it has a secure footing. Check more than once if you must, just to be sure. Remember that serious accidents can occur even when you are not very high up on a ladder, so you can never be too careful.
Never overreach on a ladder. Sure, it can be very annoying to have to continuously ascend and descend the ladder just to move it over a small amount, but it is worth taking the extra time to avoid placing yourself at serious risk.
While being very nervous on a ladder is not good, neither is being overly relaxed or confident. Even when approaching the bottom rungs of the ladder, a fall could still be dangerous.
It is unwise to position a ladder in a doorway, but if you have to, make sure you lock the door if possible and let everyone else in the house know that they should avoid the area.
