What you need to know about working safely at height. Written for people who do it every day, not for the brochure.
Safety
At wind force 6 or more you do not go up a ladder. That is the limit Arbouw uses for Dutch construction, and wind force 6 is an average wind of 39 to 49 kilometres per hour. The law names no number, but in both the Netherlands and Belgium it says you do not work at height when the weather puts safety at risk.
· 3 min read
SafetyNL · BE
In the Netherlands you report a work accident with hospital admission, permanent injury or death immediately to the Netherlands Labour Authority, on 0800 5151 or via the online form. In Belgium you report a fatal accident, or a fall from height with permanent injury, immediately to the inspectorate, and notify your work accident insurer within 8 days.
· 6 min read
Ladder safety
The rungs must stay level and the feet must rest on firm ground that does not move. Article 7.23a of the Dutch Working Conditions Decree requires exactly that. On a slope or stairs you use adjustable legs or a leveller, on soft ground a wide base plate, and you never pack it up with bricks, boards or a crate.
· 4 min read
Ladder safety
A ladder against the gutter is allowed if the gutter can take it and the ladder cannot slip. Against a plastic gutter you are better off not: use a stand-off that rests on the wall instead. Against a metal gutter you secure the top with a strap or a gutter clamp, and if you are going onto the roof, the ladder extends at least 1 metre above the gutter.
· 5 min read
Safety
On a leaning ladder the top three rungs stay free, so you never stand higher than the fourth rung from the top. On a stepladder without a platform and rail, the top two steps stay free. This is in the user instructions of the European ladder standard EN 131-3, and usually as a pictogram on the ladder itself.
· 4 min read
SafetyNL · BE
In the law a ladder is mainly a way to get somewhere. As a workplace it is only allowed when the risk is low, and then only for short work or when the location allows nothing else. The Dutch construction sector makes that concrete: under 5 metres standing height, under 2 hours for the whole job, little force, within arm's reach and below wind force 6.
· 5 min read
SafetyNL · BE
In the Netherlands from a possible fall of 2.5 metres, and lower as soon as there is an opening in the floor or anything else that makes a fall worse, such as water or traffic below. Belgian rules for work at height set no fixed height: the risk assessment decides. In both countries, a guardrail or scaffold comes before a harness.
· 5 min read
Equipment
A telescopic ladder fits in a car, and that is exactly why so many bad ones are sold. Where the mechanism fails, which marking has to be on it, and when a plain ladder is the better buy.
· 6 min read
SafetyBE
Belgium has no fifteen-minute rule like the Netherlands. Instead, your own risk assessment decides when a ladder is still acceptable. What the Code says, what it means on site, and where contractors get caught out.
· 6 min read
MaintenanceNL
The annual inspection says nothing about yesterday's damage. Six checks you can do in half a minute, and what to do when one of them fails.
· 4 min read
EquipmentNL
EN 131 is printed on almost every ladder, but what does it mean? The difference between a professional and a domestic ladder, why ladders over three metres have a wider foot, and what to check on the label.
· 6 min read
SafetyNL
Most ladder accidents do not start with a misstep but with a ladder that moves. Four ways to prevent it, and which one fits which job.
· 5 min read
SafetyNL
Ladders have to be inspected periodically by a competent person. An employer who cannot prove it after an accident starts the case at a disadvantage: the burden of proof is reversed.
· 5 min read
SafetyNL
Fifteen minutes from the same position is a rule of thumb from practice, not a legal text. The Dutch Working Conditions Decree only allows a ladder as a workplace when the risk is low and the work is short. What that means, and when you need a scaffold tower instead.
· 5 min read
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