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The Story
I know you may not care much about ladder safety; I certainly didn’t for a long while. After all, how difficult is it to climb a ladder? One foot after the other, one rung at a time. Eventually, you’ll find yourself at the top or at the bottom, but as long as the job gets done, it doesn’t matter how you end up there. That’s the way I saw it, and that’s what past experience had taught me.
While I saw myself confidently changing bulbs, stocking shelves, or painting walls, my family and loved ones saw a bumbling, arrogant fool tempting fate and itching to get himself hurt, or worse.
When I fell, it wasn’t entirely because of a faulty ladder that needed replacing, or my attempts to overextend past my reach. It was because I conditioned myself to complete tasks on the ladder with efficiency and speed and chose to take shortcuts that comprised my safety.
The pain of falling off the ladder was one thing. My back ached every time I bent down to pick up my son or to put on my shoes, but it was the feeling of my family’s disappointment in my reckless behavior that hit in a much more profound way.
The Lesson
Luckily for you, I’m not here to preach about ladder safety practices – there are exceptionally more qualified people than myself to do that, a good deal of whom are holding seminars and providing information all throughout March, also known as National Ladder Safety Month.
What I am here to do is to shake you of your pride and push you to chase after those initiatives. And before you begin citing the years of construction history as your alibi, where hundreds of buildings were constructed and refurbished with barely any safety framework in sight, I urge you to likewise recall the utter lack of innovative tools that we luckily find facilitating most of our jobs today.
For those working on ladders, ladder safety and ladder usage documentation and products have become abundant. From different load-bearing types of ladders to styles varying in height, form, and function, there’s little excuse to keep using the same ladders that are worn, far too wide or slim, and a smidge too tall or short.
Beyond matters of size, height, and weight, even problems you might not have thought needed addressing have been solved. Take the tricky task of using ladders on stairs. Sure, there’s the archaic and exceedingly risky solution of putting together impromptu scaffolding made of 2x4s and other ladders precariously stacked and slotted onto one-another. Will it get the job done? Maybe. You’ve seen others do it before. But at what cost?
- Time. How long does it take to put together a set-up like that?
- Adjustability. Say it’s too short, or needs to be moved. How easily can you take it all down and put it back up? How well can you add to it?
- Safety. One can rely on a quick and messy application of the laws of physics for only so long until something gives. Whether a clumsy foot slips between a gap and sends you plummeting, or the entire scaffolding set-up shifts and falls, a good deal of risk is brought onto yourself and others with this rather harmful “solution”.
Lo and behold, even a problem as niche as that has found its solution with the Ideal Security Ladder-Aide PRO, a stable platform and leveling device that allows you to safely use ladders on stairs. Capable of supporting extension ladders from Type III to Type I-AA, the Ladder-Aide PRO is the go-to fix to solve the matter of using ladders on stairs, and will work to put the archaic, dangerous answer of putting together faulty scaffolding to rest. Where DIY scaffolding and platforms made of paint cans fail, here is where the Ladder-Aide PRO excels:
- Time. In under a minute, the Ladder-Aide PRO can be safely and securely assembled and ready for use.
- Adjustability. With multiple heights to choose from, the Ladder-Aide PRO can accommodate differing step sizes easily. Once you’re done with one section of stairs, you can simply pick up the Ladder-Aide PRO and move it to your place of choosing, as it doesn’t need to be affixed to your ladder or installed into the surface it’s placed upon.
- Safety. Between its all-steel construction, rubber soles, anti-skid surface, and locking pins in place for added stability, the Ladder-Aide PRO is tried and tested to support the appropriate type of ladder and aid in minimizing the risk of using ladders on stairs.
- Convenience. The Ladder-Aide PRO Tool Bag makes transporting the Ladder-Aide PRO and other small tools a breeze, letting you carry the portable safety platform with ease.
With the resources provided by National Ladder Safety Month, a wide range of ladders to choose from, and innovative tools like the Ladder-Aide PRO in tow to solve a key pain point of ladder use, you’ve little excuse to avoid brushing up on safety habits.
And if you won’t do it for yourself – do it for those who care about you instead.