Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: FALLING

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to a potential fall hazard when working from an uninspected, defective extension ladder used at the sixteen (16) foot level. (a)Acid Tower - Employees were required and/or permitted to climb to the top of a sixteen (16) foot high tank using a twenty-eight (28) foot long portable reinforced plastic extension ladder open to seventeen (17) feet, to check the level of acid in a tank prior to receiving another delivery. Rung spacing on the ladder was not uniform. One rung was bent 7/16 of an inch across the rung. The ladder had not been inspected, marked or taken out of service, observed on or about April 16, 2004. Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable abatement method to correct these hazards include, following ANSI A14.5-2000, "American National Standard for Ladders - Portable Reinforced Plastic - Safety Requirements", including but not limited to: periodic inspections, preferably before each use. Where structural damage or other hazardous defect is found, ladders shall be marked and taken out of service until they are repaired by a competent mechanic or destroyed in such a manner as to render them useless. VERIFICATION REQUIREDTION