During any work at a height of more than three metres from the ground, many accidents may occur. Indeed, falls from a poorly secured staircase, stepladder or access ladder are recurrent. In a workplace, it’s the employer’s responsibility to take the necessary precautions for the safety of their employees. While the choice of access ladder is important for ensuring a certain level of safety, a ladder must also be accompanied by a guardrail.

What is a protective guardrail for an access ladder?

A guardrail is a set of elements that form a sort of protective barrier between a space at height and the ground and that thus allows you to climb safely to the surface. A guardrail for an access ladder is also a sort of safety barrier that must be able to be installed quickly on any type of ladder on a construction site in order to protect workers when ascending or descending the ladder. A guardrail must also be an element designed to comply with applicable safety standards. A guardrail may also have an opening and closing safety barrier, depending on the requirements of the situation.

The importance of choosing the right guardrail for an access ladder

In Québec, the CSST has found that 19.7% of falls in a workplace at height are from a ladder or stepladder. To make sure that your workers don’t fall, it’s essential to provide them with safe equipment. As an employer, you must make an analysis of the risks of the work at height by analyzing the circumstances in which your equipment will be used as well as the characteristics of the working environment. If you work on a roof more than three metres above the ground, you will therefore need to acquire a guardrail for a roof that may include a ladder that is itself secured by a guardrail. The ladder rungs must be 6 inches from the wall, leave a space of at least 31 inches in front to leave room for the steps, and have a space of at least 15 inches from any object on the sides, calculated from the centre of the rungs. That way, a guardrail for a ladder can be installed and will be sure to comply with safety standards in terms of reducing the risks of falls from a height.

A quality guardrail for roof ladder protection

The quality of a guardrail for a ladder depends on several criteria that must be taken into account. This type of equipment must respect the ladder—that is, it must under no circumstances damage it so as not to cause other risks of falls. A guardrail for a ladder must also have width and height measurements that make it possible to protect against potential falls while allowing workers to ascend and descend from a roof or any surface at height with ease. Finally, a guardrail for a ladder that leads to a surface at height must be designed in such a way as to allow easy access to the surface so as not to include an additional fall risk.

To reduce the risks of falls from a height in your workplace, trust industrial equipment professionals who are perfectly familiar with safety standards and who design their equipment in Québec so that it can be tailored to the weather conditions. When it comes to the safety of your workers, it’s better to prevent potential risks than to waste time and resources and create a poor working environment in your company.

Do you want to install a guardrail for your access ladder? Contact us!