The right ladder for the job

A hotel company has been fined after a worker fell from a ladder, causing a ruptured spinal disc and partially rupturing another.

The 25-year-old maintenance technician fell 2.5 m from a mezzanine roof when alighting a 1.8 m wooden step ladder.

WorkSafe found the ladder he used to be too short to reach the top of the roof. The ladder did not have a safe platform to stand on to alight from the ladder, it was not secured to prevent tipping and no one was helping to secure it.

The injured worker was unaware that the employer had two other ladders stored in the carpark that would have been more appropriate for the job.

"Risk assessments are essential. Businesses and contractors must ensure fall protection is provided and they need to ensure it is used," Geoff Thomas, director of WorkSafe's Construction and Utilities Division said.

Guidance material and safety information on fall protection aimed at construction, transport and the farm sector can be accessed at WorkSafe's website.