Ladder safety questions

Is it safe in picture one of ladder legs is against wall but other isn't.   Will that stop it sliding back?

On other picture I have ladder against corner of window (inside) and other end on wall.  To balance it out with the feet I put a ladder leveller under one foot.   Is this safe?

Hard to say without seeing the angle its racked at on the first picture. But looks ok. 

Ladder mats are good. But I would use a wooden wedge instead. Much faster. I would also use ladder mitts if you are going to rack a ladder like that. You will mark the window frame/wall. As for safety though, it looks fine to me.

If you are not sure. Give the ladder a little shove, towards the biulding, to test the grip. If it moves with a little force. Its time for plan b.

Pic one - tricky to see but 'looks' like the angle *might* be more than golden rule '1:4' i.e if ladder is 6 meters up the wall it should be 1.5m out from wall (ie.1:4) - means weight goes 'down' through ladders styles rather than pushing it 'out' from wall which leads to legs slipping out. Your ankalad stabiliser would able to prevent a slip (esp if you fit the other side too ?).

Pic two looks well iffy - your ladder is tipping to the left - with a bit of weight on it and at height (looks like you trying to reach the top of wall) the 'force' will be magnified, it will want to come away from wall and tip left and keep going - onto the conny - ouch.  A Microlite standoff on top of ladder would get the ladder up to the gutter line (stand off sits on the roof) prevents it wanting to tip left/right and prevents somewhat ladder wanting to slid out from under you. If that brings you out too far from the wall surface, can you lash a plank so it goes across the window -touching either side - but crucially the ladder with be true and parallel to the wall. Sure you can probably get wide standoffs if you don't fancy the lashed plank (top tip use the ankalad stabilisers they are great - make it rock solid)

Speak to anyone who has had a ladder fall - they don't take risks or wing it again - most stop using ladders

Whenever I use ladders, before I go up, I will always go underneath the ladder so to speak and put some downward pressure on the bottom rung to see if the ladder shows any sign of slipping out. ?

Risk for profit = loss of earnings

Dont do it buddy, it aint worth ittrust me!

NoName said:

Pic one - tricky to see but 'looks' like the angle *might* be more than golden rule '1:4' i.e if ladder is 6 meters up the wall it should be 1.5m out from wall (ie.1:4) - means weight goes 'down' through ladders styles rather than pushing it 'out' from wall which leads to legs slipping out. Your ankalad stabiliser would able to prevent a slip (esp if you fit the other side too ?).

Pic two looks well iffy - your ladder is tipping to the left - with a bit of weight on it and at height (looks like you trying to reach the top of wall) the 'force' will be magnified, it will want to come away from wall and tip left and keep going - onto the conny - ouch.  A Microlite standoff on top of ladder would get the ladder up to the gutter line (stand off sits on the roof) prevents it wanting to tip left/right and prevents somewhat ladder wanting to slid out from under you. If that brings you out too far from the wall surface, can you lash a plank so it goes across the window -touching either side - but crucially the ladder with be true and parallel to the wall. Sure you can probably get wide standoffs if you don't fancy the lashed plank (top tip use the ankalad stabilisers they are great - make it rock solid)

Speak to anyone who has had a ladder fall - they don't take risks or wing it again - most stop using ladders

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Yeah the first picture is pushed back because it butts up to wall If there's a brick wall I do that because I figure a wall will stop it going back even if angle is bigger.   How about one foot of ladder on wall and other not as in my previous picture?

What do you think of my wood bolted to stand off across window?

Why don't you just move the base of the ladder to approx. 1metre out from house wall and have the ladder going up 4 meters (about where you have it in the pic) and then USE your ankalad stabilisers on each side - these prevent the ladder tipping leff/right AND slipping out (backwards) from under you. (Also takes that annoy/dangerous flex/bounce out of the ladder) That way you're using everything as it designed to be? 

Do you not trust the stabilisers to do the job ? (They are great!) It's exactly what they are designed for...

Ladders often slip out because the weight isn't directly going vertically (or near vertically) into the ground...the further your ladder is from the 4:1 ratio (up/out) - the greater your leaning angle - meaning less force is going safely into the 'ground' and increased force is 'pushing' your ladders feet out - often leading to it slipping.

I understand why you'd want to wedge it against the wall - at that angle though are you increasing likelihood of 'slipping' off the treads (they are designed to be stood on at an incline created by a 4:1 angle)? Also will the wall 'give' a little or facing stone/give way etc - just a little jolt a few cm's movement can unsteady you enough to lose your balance...

Plank looks a good'un (look sturdy and fasten to standoff)

If you need to get further to the left over the conny - you can always use those telescopic paintbrush holders/poles..

Might me an idea to have a little dig around on the HSE website some good sound tried and tested advice on there

http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-at-height/using-ladders-safely.htm 

25 years on ladders and no broken limbs, the first picture is fine, the ladder won't kick out. The second picture  picture I don't trust ladder matts better off with a piece of wood, and ladders being further out. Sometimes it's easy to overthink things.

Of the 92 people killed due to work in 2018/19 in UK - 40 fell from height - the No 1 cause by a margin - 44% of total deaths...sobering stuff http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/pdf/fatalinjuries.pdf

Most people who have a fall/near miss tend not to boast about it..

I would estimate that I've had around 20 customers tell me they're previous windie had a fall/stop calling/retired after a fall

IMO it's not worth taking a risk sooner or later you'll have a near miss/fall

purpleroad said:

Yeah the first picture is pushed back because it butts up to wall If there's a brick wall I do that because I figure a wall will stop it going back even if angle is bigger.   How about one foot of ladder on wall and other not as in my previous picture?

What do you think of my wood bolted to stand off across window?

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The pitch of that ladder is far to shallow should be 4 up 1 out , I personally wouldn’t want to be relying on a piece of timber to support a ladder across a window but that’s just me ,seen to many people fall from ladders over the years 

Get some good ladder spikes and wedge them in the block paving and you will be going no where. I’ve used ladders for years and still do. I went on a ladder safety course many moons ago and they are only as safe as the person using them. Get rid of that peice of wood as it looks dodgy as hell. I’m a little confused as to weather you are painting or cleaning but either way that wood or how you have it  doesn’t look like it’s good for either. 

Pjj said:

The pitch of that ladder is far to shallow should be 4 up 1 out , I personally wouldn’t want to be relying on a piece of timber to support a ladder across a window but that’s just me ,seen to many people fall from ladders over the years 

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Even better : Make sure you have adequate Public Liability Insurance..for YOU AND Clients peace of mind????.

Cleanco said:

Get some good ladder spikes and wedge them in the block paving and you will be going no where. I’ve used ladders for years and still do. I went on a ladder safety course many moons ago and they are only as safe as the person using them. Get rid of that peice of wood as it looks dodgy as hell. I’m a little confused as to weather you are painting or cleaning but either way that wood or how you have it  doesn’t look like it’s good for either. 

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I've got these ones. Do you ram then into the block paving?   I thought the gaps in paving to be too narrow to fit.

purpleroad said:

I've got these ones. Do you ram then into the block paving?   I thought the gaps in paving to be too narrow to fit.

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Like these?

Cleanco said:

Like these?

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You make them yourself?  I bet they dont swivel around

dmw said:

25 years on ladders and no broken limbs, the first picture is fine, the ladder won't kick out. The second picture  picture I don't trust ladder matts better off with a piece of wood, and ladders being further out. Sometimes it's easy to overthink things.

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Surely pulling a sturdy ladder out against a sturdy wall more than 4 to 1 is better ?  It's going nowhere backwards against gravelboard or a solid wall. Especially wall.   I think you can be too close to wall.   The ladder can pull off the wall at the top and topple backwards. Or more likely to slide left or right.  If the ladder is strong and not a DIY one its butted up against a wall then better to pull it out a bit.  

Of course if there's nothing to butt up against then 4 in 1 is important 

purpleroad said:

You make them yourself?  I bet they dont swivel around

Surely pulling a sturdy ladder out against a sturdy wall more than 4 to 1 is better ?  It's going nowhere backwards against gravelboard or a solid wall. Especially wall.   I think you can be too close to wall.   The ladder can pull off the wall at the top and topple backwards. Or more likely to slide left or right.  If the ladder is strong and not a DIY one its butted up against a wall then better to pull it out a bit.  

Of course if there's nothing to butt up against then 4 in 1 is important 

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No I get them from my local window cleaning shop for around a tenner. I think he gets them made himself. 

Cleanco said:

No I get them from my local window cleaning shop for around a tenner. I think he gets them made himself. 

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What's the address of this shop?  I'll ring them up and order a pair

Used my 8 metre heavy  lyte ladder on this job.  

How do people set the ankalad angle using the clip in things?  Should they mirror each other both sides?   As you can see, one angle is less than the other.  

I also found it hard to push the standoff onto the roof as the ladder's so heavy.   Any tips?   Thinking of getting a lighter 7.5 metre one

Got to put ladder on this wet artificial grass. How do you stop it sliding back?

Bag of sand?  As in picture .

purpleroad said:

What's the address of this shop?  I'll ring them up and order a pair

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Moxhams cleaning supplies, farnworth. They are only a small family run business and I don’t think they do mail order. Worth a try though. 

Hey Purple I did a double take - I've got the same triple ladder/ankalad/microlite set up - I don't really use the centre bracing bracket - it's purpose is to prevent the side telescopic angles from splaying out and hence losing stability - but as you've found out it's not always possible at every job to have a perfect wide/flat/obstacle free ground to set out the stabilisers, so I just adjust the angle of each stabiliser (I'd stay below say 45degree to ladders) and often the length/depth on say uneven ground.

Re the artificial grass - best approach is always to tie off at the base - rope around a tread and to something fixed - ideal is to drill a hole in mortar line of bricks, sink an anchor with a tie eye and use that to lash to the ladder. (Fill hole in mortar when finished) Obviously get permission ? (it's the way BT Satellite installers do it - I was doing the windows next door to this BT guy - it took him the time it took me to clean the house windows for him to just set up ready to climb the ladder - once he got up - all of 7-8ft!! he twiddled the dish and got down - 2mins work with 25mins prep. He said BT random check by visiting random work completed sites and no drill hole (hence ladder was tide off) equalled the sack.

That's the gold standard - else water is heavy than sand so a bin/barrel/water - fill with water from cuty's outside tap...  

Or use your ladders with the ankalads??