Helmets for ladder work?

Conversation
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Hey guys!

I’ve been reading this forum for about 6 months as I’ve been preparing to start my business on March 1 this year; this is my first post. I was wondering what your thoughts were on helmets for ladder work on 2-3 story commercial and residential. I did a search and haven’t seen any threads on this since 2014, so I was interested if anything has changed since then. Is this normal in the industry at all? Is it possible to get a break on insurance premiums if you require helmets for your workers?

Thanks for your help!

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Really? Serious?

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Yea, sorry if this is a dumb question. None of the companies I’ve consulted with use them, I was just curious if some of you more experienced guys have seen them used, or if it’s something an insurance company would care about.

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You might want a helmet if what you’re going to try and do is prefaced by a “Do not try this at home” disclaimer…

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“My ladder’s not quite tall enough for that window, but I could probably get it if I jump”

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Naw, just stand on the top step. Hold my beer.

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Welcome and good luck.

No is the answer. You don’t need to wear hard hats on a residential property at all. If it’s a construction site, yes.

At least here.

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Makes about as much sense as when you see a roofer wearing a hard hat. Just why? If something hits you from above your likely in more trouble than a helmet will get you out of.

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Why? Because whenever there is pneumatic nail guns, a little bit of protection just might save your life.

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Preach it brother, lol. If you have pneumatic nail guns in your recipe for your next window cleaning tool, I’ll have to pass on that one.

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No, the next project is probably a toothpaste dispenser.

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I could see with doing chair work, but definitely not ladder work. I guess people are not so worried about head injuries if they fall off a ladder.

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Pchick, pchick, all clean…

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Went to bid a CCU at a local college recently, they wanted hard hats, goggles, steel toe boots, and florescent vests…I passed.

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Yeah but ccus are technically construction and the GC will require it. Jaynes will kick you off the site without the right gear. They’re hardcore but the best I’ve worked with.

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Its been that way here for close to 20 years now, we are even required to have a white card which is a construction induction a $90 course which is 8 hours long. Then when you arrive at the site you have to do another induction for that specific site, which is normally an hour or 2 long. If you have several employees that’s quite some down time you may not have budgeted for. Many sites will only do one set of inductions per day if you were not informed the time of the induction and missed it you would not be let onsite until you did, a waste of a day.

Even though many times when we are on the CCU we may be the last trade there and 100% of construction is complete they still require all the PPE, many sites make you wear long pants and sleeves also blade proof gloves.

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I get the requirements for hardhats on construction sites. There are so many people everywhere, above, below, all round you.

To think a helmet to be used while using a ladder is not neccessry at all. Simple ladder training and workers abiding by safe use solves most issues.

We could always wear a helmet while driving a car too it would help some people at times but I believe is reaching too far for solutions.

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By all means you do what makes you comfortable personally.

Most accident happen because the working is misusing a tool or method.

Utilizing safe work practices is the ultimate solution.

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@Matthew
Now why can’t my competition have that same attitude! Dang it!

Matthew, you screwed yourself on that one pal. You just turned down a 47$ (at LEAST) per hour prevailing wage job!

Flushed it straight down the terlet.

Dude, nobody expects you to wear goggles at all times unless you are inside and even then not all the time. I did a ccu at a college and profit for it was 15k. Out of 3 weeks (23 days exactly).

I and all 7 people who were with me wore hard hats, vest and steel toes every day.

We were to have gloves on our person too by the way. For that kind of money? I’ll wear pink fishnets.

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@Steve076
You forgot to mention the daily morning tailgate safety meetings w/sign offs.