(1) You must make sure ladder safety devices and related support systems meet all of the following:

(a) Are capable of withstanding, without failure, the test drop of a five-hundred-pound weight for a free-fall distance of eighteen inches.

(b) The device does not require a person to continually hold, push, or pull any part of the device and allows them to have both hands free to grip the ladder.

(i) Is activated within two feet; and

(ii) Limits the fall velocity to seven feet per second or less.

(d) Uses a connection between the carrier or lifeline and the point of attachment on the full body harness that is not longer than nine inches.

(2) You must make sure ladder safety devices with rigid carriers have mountings that:

(a) Are attached at each end of the carrier; and

(b) Have intermediate mountings that are all of the following:

(i) Spaced along the entire length of the carrier in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations.

(ii) Installed within one foot below each splice on the carrier.

(iii) Have a maximum distance between mountings that is twenty-five feet or less.

(3) You must make sure ladder safety devices with flexible carriers have:

(a) Mountings that are attached at each end of the carrier; and

(b) Cable guides that are spaced at least twenty-five feet, but no further than forty feet, apart along the entire length of the carrier.

(4) You must make sure the design and installation of mountings and cable guides does not reduce the design strength of the ladder.

PDFWAC 296-876-60080

Ladder safety devices.