Why Ladders Fail at the Feet and the Hinges
Ladders fail at two places: the feet and the hinges. Worn or missing feet let the base slide on a smooth floor, and a spreader bar that no longer locks lets a stepladder fold under load. Rails and rungs get inspected carefully and cause far fewer falls than either.
That mismatch between where people look and where ladders fail is the reason a pre-use check often changes nothing. A worker runs a hand down the rails, sees no cracks, and climbs a ladder standing on two worn rubber feet on a polished concrete slab. What belongs in the file rather than the frames is anything about work at height beyond the ladder itself: fall arrest, edge protection, and permit requirements are separate controls with their own training.
The inspection is laid out over seven scenes: one on the two real failure points, two on checking feet and the surface they will stand on, two on hinges, spreader bars, and locking mechanisms, one on the rail and rung checks worth keeping, and one on tagging and removing a failed ladder from service.
