Ladder inspection is the two-layer routine, pre-use checks by the user and periodic documented inspections on a register, that keeps portable and fixed ladders from contributing their share of fall injuries. Ladders are everywhere, owned by no one, and abused daily, which is precisely the profile of equipment that hurts people: familiar enough to be trusted, neglected enough not to deserve it.
The criteria are visual and mechanical: bent or dented stiles (aluminum does not bend back to strength any more than racking uprights do), cracked or split side rails on fiberglass and wood, missing or worn anti-slip feet, loose or bent rungs, damaged spreader locks on stepladders, frayed ropes on extension ladders, and any field repair, taped rungs and bolted splints are automatic failures. Fixed ladders add their own list: corrosion at anchor points, loose brackets, damaged cages or fall arrest rails, and gate condition at landings.
A plant’s first ladder census finds 63 ladders where the register lists 28: the extra 35 arrived through projects, contractors, and hardware-store purchases. Inspection against criteria fails 17 of the 63, mostly bent aluminum stiles and missing feet, and finds 11 more that are the wrong ladder entirely: conductive aluminum living next to electrical panels where fiberglass is mandatory. Outcome: 17 destroyed (visibly, cut in half, the same destroy-on-rejection discipline as rigging), 11 swapped for rated fiberglass, and 35 orphans absorbed into a numbered register with QR tags and quarterly inspection routes. The fleet got smaller, and every remaining ladder acquired an identity and a history.
Inspection verifies condition, not suitability. The recurring at-height ladder job is a planning failure by definition (see working at height): if both hands work above the shoulders for half an hour, the finding is not "ladder passed inspection", it is "this task needs a platform". The register plus work order history exposes exactly which tasks keep renting the same ladder, which is the evidence an engineering fix needs.
Fabrico gives ladders the same governance as any asset: each one registered with type, rating, and location; periodic inspections as recurring route work orders with per-ladder pass/fail; failures generating withdrawal and replacement actions; fixed ladders and their fall-arrest systems on their own inspection schedules; and the usage pattern, which jobs keep reaching for ladders, visible in the history that justifies better access equipment. EU-built, with EU data residency.
Quarterly to annually depending on duty and environment, with harsh service (outdoor, chemical, heavy rotation) at the tight end. Pre-use checks happen every use regardless; the documented layer exists to catch the slow damage users stop seeing.
Bending work-hardens and micro-cracks the alloy; straightening restores appearance while leaving the strength loss in place. The same logic condemns bent racking uprights and stretched chain: cold-formed metal that has yielded is spent.
Contractors bring gear under their own inspection regime, but site rules should require evidence of it and give the site the right to quarantine defective items. A contractor ladder that hurts your employee is your incident too.
Want a ladder register that inspects on schedule and exposes the jobs that need platforms? Book a Fabrico demo to see everyday-equipment safety run through a field-ready CMMS.
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