Citation

Chang WR, Huang YH, Brunette C, Lee J. Ergonomics 2017; 60(11): 1540-1550.

Affiliation

d Department of Environmental Health , Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health , Boston , MA , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00140139.2017.1332392

PMID

28705111

Abstract

Portable ladders incidents remain a major cause of falls from heights. This study reported field observations of environments, work conditions and safety behaviour involving portable ladders and their correlations with self-reported safety performance. Seventy-five professional installers of a company in the cable and other pay TV industry were observed for 320 ladder usages at their worksites. The participants also filled out a questionnaire to measure self-reported safety performance. Proper setup on slippery surfaces, correct method for ladder inclination setup and ladder secured at the bottom had the lowest compliance with best practices and training guidelines. The observation compliance score was found to have significant correlation with straight ladder inclined angle (Pearson's r = 0.23, p < 0.0002) and employees' self-reported safety participation (r = 0.29, p < 0.01). The results provide a broad perspective on employees' safety compliance and identify areas for improving safety behaviours. Practitioner Summary: A checklist was used while observing professional installers of a cable company for portable ladder usage at their worksites. Items that had the lowest compliance with best practices and training guidelines were identified. The results provide a broad perspective on employees' safety compliance and identify areas for improving safety behaviours.

Language: en

Keywords

Ladder setup; extension ladder; field study; self-reported safety performance; step ladder; user behaviour