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Wire Rope and Web Ladders

Ladders can be made from webbing or wire rope, using wood or round aluminum rungs. Call 225-344-7144 for your custom made ladder.

WIRE ROPE LADDER SAFETY AND INFORMATION:

Please familiarize yourself and your employees using the ladder with these and other parts of this document.

  • DO inspect the ladder prior to each installation or at regular intervals if ladder is installed for extended periods of time.
  • DO remove the ladder from service if there is any evidence of a rung having slipped on the suspension cables.
  • DO remove the ladder from service if any rungs are bent.
  • DO make sure the ladder is attached properly prior to climbing.
  • DO make sure that the fall protection system is installed and used in compliance with the State and/or Federal OSHA laws.
  • DO make sure that all users read and understand these instructions.
  • DO NOT climb the ladder without being certain that it has been suspended properly.
  • DO NOT wrap the wire rope around anything to hang the ladder.
  • DO NOT allow the wire rope to come into contact with any sharp objects or rough edges. This is especially important once the ladder is suspended.
  • DO NOT allow persons weighing more than 350 lbs. to climb the ladder. For persons over this weight limit, a different ladder system must be used.
  • DO NOT allow more than one person at a time on the ladder.
  • DO NOT use a ladder that has any broken wire or other damaged components.
  • DO NOT allow the ladder to be used without the additional required fall protection system in use.

Inspecting your ladder: Inspect the entire ladder for defects or damages to any of the materials before using your wire rope or web ladder. Please use the following guidelines during the inspection procedure:

  1. Wire Rope: The wire rope rails of the ladder are very important to the strength of the system. The wire should be inspected in the same fashion as any sling, observing the entire length for damage. Serious situations can occur if a person cuts themselves while climbing a ladder. Unlike a sling that the law allows to have a few broken wires, one broken wire on a wire rope ladder is too many. If there are any broken wires, the ladder should be removed immediately from use. Close attention should be given also to the area immediately close to the thimble eyes because this is potentially the weakest part of the wire rope. Kinking and/or crushing of the wire and/or bending of the thimble/sleeves are also important aspects for removing the ladder from use.
  2. Stop sleeves: Check the area around the stop sleeves for any evidence of rung slippage. Any such evidence means the removal of the ladder at once. Remember, once a sleeve slips, it will slip again with much less force applied.
  3. Rungs: The rungs should be inspected for signs of bending. If a rung is bent, the ladder has been overloaded and it should be removed from use.

Returning a damaged ladder to service: In some cases the damaged area can be cut out of the ladder and a shorter usable ladder used in its place. This should only be done by a competent rigger, one who is qualified to evaluate the cause of the damage and be able to reasonably determine that the rest of the ladder is still safe. Since there are no repairs that can be made to a wire rope ladder that result in the ladder remaining the same length, it is important to treat this life support system with due respect. If you do, you can expect a long and useful life from this product, thus a good value.

Fall protection plan: The mandatory fall protection system should be installed according to the manufacturer’s instruction. Consideration should be given to the strength of the anchorages. Federal OSHA requires a 5,000 lb. anchor point, while Cal OSHA requires a 5,400 lb. anchor point.  Although in some cases a body belt may be allowed, it should not be used. Only a full body harness with dorsal or shoulder pickups will keep the body upright in case of a fall. A body belt will cause the face to swing down in an arc which could intersect with the ends of the rungs on the ladder.

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