# Step Ladder Safety Cover



## reelhandy (Apr 29, 2013)

After 40 years of telling workers to step down on the ladder I came up with this.

www.safetysuper.com

It works and it's inexpensive. It also keeps your shins from rubbing on the step it blocks.

I'm always looking for comments, so if you check it out and have some thoughts about it please let me know. Thanks.


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## 2buckcanuck (Jul 9, 2010)

First thing I would do is, go to my Van, get the tool posted in my picture, and pop it off:yes:


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

reelhandy said:


> after 40 years of telling workers to step down on the ladder i came up with this.
> 
> www.safetysuper.com
> 
> ...


 lmfao!


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## Kiwiman (Jun 14, 2008)

Thats gonna be a big step getting to the top....makes it kinda more dangerous I would think.


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## cazna (Mar 28, 2010)

Kiwiman said:


> Thats gonna be a big step getting to the top....makes it kinda more dangerous I would think.


You can shove that attachment 

Looks more of a hazard than a ladder without it.


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## VANMAN (Jan 14, 2011)

cazna said:


> You can shove that attachment
> 
> Looks more of a hazard than a ladder without it.


 Would it go on the side of my pails?


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## Mudshark (Feb 8, 2009)

Those steps you block off make a good little shelf for other uses like mudpans, knifes etc.


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## cazna (Mar 28, 2010)

Mudshark said:


> Those steps you block off make a good little shelf for other uses like mudpans, knifes etc.


And a hand rail.


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## reelhandy (Apr 29, 2013)

Kiwiman said:


> Thats gonna be a big step getting to the top....makes it kinda more dangerous I would think.



In the USA the top of the ladder and the step below it are off limits for use on the jobsite per the manufacturers guidelines, and per OSHA. They have deemed that area as unsafe for use. In the US if you are standing on that part of the ladder and an OSHA Inspector sees you, your company and the General Contractor your company is working for will be cited and fined. If a worker falls from that part of the ladder and is injured, the company and the GC will need to prove that they took steps to train and prevent the worker from using the hazard area of the ladder.
If the cover is on the ladder and the worker disregards it and attempts to climb over it to surf the ladder, he or she is pretty much on their own in terms of liability.


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## Kiwiman (Jun 14, 2008)

reelhandy said:


> In the USA the top of the ladder and the step below it are off limits for use on the jobsite per the manufacturers guidelines, and per OSHA. They have deemed that area as unsafe for use. In the US if you are standing on that part of the ladder and an OSHA Inspector sees you, your company and the General Contractor your company is working for will be cited and fined. If a worker falls from that part of the ladder and is injured, the company and the GC will need to prove that they took steps to train and prevent the worker from using the hazard area of the ladder.
> If the cover is on the ladder and the worker disregards it and attempts to climb over it to surf the ladder, he or she is pretty much on their own in terms of liability.


But in the real world :whistling2:.....workers aren't worried about liability, all these new safety systems are doing is just creating obstacles for people to try and work around, Who here hasn't heard of a work story where a drongo worker manages to get past a safety guard or bypass a safety switch so that he could get eaten by a machine.
A lot of workers aren't that bright and just don't listen to rules, if a sign on the steps doesn't work then that same drongo is going to get past an obstacle to get to the top rung if he can't quite reach.
Example - I work my own business, rumour has it that stilts won't be allowed with the new safety rules coming in (NZ), before I started using stilts I would wake in the middle of the night with severe pain in my knees, I would hurt myself stepping off planks, and of course the job is slower when not using stilts etc etc.... there is no way in hell anyone is going to stop me wearing stilts in my own business, I'll be locking the doors and doing everything I can to not get caught, just the same as I will still always use the top two rungs of my ladder. 
If I die from doing something stupid then I deserved it :yes:
Aw sh1t, I'm getting aggitated now and my blood pressures rising :furious: .....I might have a heart attack because of safety equipment :whistling2:


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## reelhandy (Apr 29, 2013)

Kiwiman said:


> But in the real world :whistling2:.....workers aren't worried about liability, all these new safety systems are doing is just creating obstacles for people to try and work around, Who here hasn't heard of a work story where a drongo worker manages to get past a safety guard or bypass a safety switch so that he could get eaten by a machine.
> A lot of workers aren't that bright and just don't listen to rules, if a sign on the steps doesn't work then that same drongo is going to get past an obstacle to get to the top rung if he can't quite reach.
> Example - I work my own business, rumour has it that stilts won't be allowed with the new safety rules coming in (NZ), before I started using stilts I would wake in the middle of the night with severe pain in my knees, I would hurt myself stepping off planks, and of course the job is slower when not using stilts etc etc.... there is no way in hell anyone is going to stop me wearing stilts in my own business, I'll be locking the doors and doing everything I can to not get caught, just the same as I will still always use the top two rungs of my ladder.
> If I die from doing something stupid then I deserved it :yes:
> Aw sh1t, I'm getting aggitated now and my blood pressures rising :furious: .....I might have a heart attack because of safety equipment :whistling2:


 You can't let it get to you. It's just the way it is. The days of folks taking responsibility for their actions are gone. Nowadays they do something stupid that they have been instructed not to do, and then they end up suing anyone they can sue when it goes wrong for them. I blame the lawyers.
I'm a Project Super for a Commercial GC in the N.Va. area. For 20 years though I worked in the drywall business. 15 of those years as a piece working finisher. My stilts made me a lot of money. Funny thing is that back then it wasn't OSHA or any of the state versions of OSHA that were anti stilts..... rather it was the unions that were trying to get them outlawed. In the states under OSHA you can still legally wear stilts, but you can't legally stand on the top step and top cap of a step ladder.
OSHA was formed in 1971 and since then they have gradually grown in power. Nowadays it's actually the insurance companies that are pushing for preventative devices like the Step Ladder Cover. OSHA has become a revenue generator for the FEDS. They aren't happy to catch workers surfing step ladders, but they do like writing multiple citations when they do. 
Typical daily wear PPE to be worn at all times on a commercial construction site in the DC area today is work boots, hard hats, and safety glasses. You can wear your stilts all day, but you need to keep your PPE on all day as well.


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## cazna (Mar 28, 2010)

Saftey saftey saftey, It ruining the industrys, Now here if you want to paint a roof then your supposed to get scaffolding and a hand rail put up around the whole house, So who wins??

No body thats who, Scaffolders are hard to get and time in with weather, Homeowners have to pay over double the cost so they wont, Paint companys dont sell paint, Airless sprayer stores sell less, Painters loose work so now all that will happan is people wont paint there roofs, Instead just wait till its so bad they have to get a new and pay once for scaffolding.

And how many people have died or got injured painting roofs?? None that i know off, Nor anyone else i talk too.

This is just one example, And im the same on the stilts thing, Ban them all they like, I wont stop using them becouse the save so much and just how many people have been hurt or injured from them??

My old boss i worked for use to actually make a point of standing on the top of a ladder (Stupied i know) But he use to prove to himself he still had it, I dont, But why dont you just make a ladder without the top two steps, Just put a curved handrail there instead.

Now i have to pay $280 a year to a company just for health and saftey policy just so i can work on job sites, On and on it all goes.

Common sence, Its being breed out of humans now, But what happens if your to safe and not careful, You get lazy...........Then accidents happen...............No wonder this younger generation coming on are so thick.


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## Kiwiman (Jun 14, 2008)

Do away with all safety equipment and wear one of these instead.....


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## Kiwiman (Jun 14, 2008)

This is the ladder I use, stand on the top rung 2m up and see if you can get the ladder to walk, very sturdy and safe feeling :thumbsup:


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## boco (Oct 29, 2010)

reelhandy said:


> After 40 years of telling workers to step down on the ladder I came up with this.
> 
> www.safetysuper.com
> 
> ...


 I think your product could use a few improvements for the drywallers on this site. Maybe add a cupholder, ashtray with roach clip and a plugin for an Ipod. Then you may get some positive replies. Other then that your pissing in the wind.


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## chris (Apr 13, 2011)

try Electrician Talk:yes:, they are the ones that keep falling off ladders:jester:


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

YA can't fix stupid Reel handy...Ya just can't:laughing:


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

Last flat of the day..


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

OSHA? Who dat?:blink:


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## reelhandy (Apr 29, 2013)

Great pictures moore. Back in the day I probably did something similar to what you have in every one of those photo's....except for walking the plank on my stilts. Up and down the stairs on stilts, no problem, but not out on a plank. I guess I was stupid, just not that stupid.
Houses are hard to follow the rules in. There are too many spots that defy conventional safe methods, and there's no money for that kind of stuff anyway. It's always been like that and probably will never change.


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## reelhandy (Apr 29, 2013)

chris said:


> try Electrician Talk:yes:, they are the ones that keep falling off ladders:jester:


 It's hard to stay on the ladder once you realize that the breaker you turned off wasn't to the light you are wiring.


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## 2buckcanuck (Jul 9, 2010)

Kiwiman said:


> But in the real world :whistling2:.....workers aren't worried about liability, all these new safety systems are doing is just creating obstacles for people to try and work around, Who here hasn't heard of a work story where a drongo worker manages to get past a safety guard or bypass a safety switch so that he could get eaten by a machine.
> A lot of workers aren't that bright and just don't listen to rules, if a sign on the steps doesn't work then that same drongo is going to get past an obstacle to get to the top rung if he can't quite reach.
> Example - I work my own business, rumour has it that stilts won't be allowed with the new safety rules coming in (NZ), before I started using stilts I would wake in the middle of the night with severe pain in my knees, I would hurt myself stepping off planks, and of course the job is slower when not using stilts etc etc.... there is no way in hell anyone is going to stop me wearing stilts in my own business, I'll be locking the doors and doing everything I can to not get caught, just the same as I will still always use the top two rungs of my ladder.
> If I die from doing something stupid then I deserved it :yes:
> Aw sh1t, I'm getting aggitated now and my blood pressures rising :furious: .....I might have a heart attack because of safety equipment :whistling2:


We had stilts banned from Ontario for the longest time, it was actually the Union that got the ban lifted. 2bjr had to go into a University, and they did all types of test on him. They put electrodes on him, made him walk on a treadmill and so on, and climb up and down benches etc........... verdict was stilts were safe, and had less ware and tare on the body compared to climbing benches all day.

I could get the case study for you guys, so you can send it to your Ministry of labour(or what ever you call it), and this is what will happen.

They will go WTF, the Canucks say stilts are safe, who believes the Canucks:blink:, we must do our own study on them.

So they will spend a few million bucks to do a study on them for a few years, then they will say "holy chit, the Canucks were right"

But now they will half to get all their money back for the study they did. So they will let you guys use them, after you take their $200 buck safety coarse,,,,,,, every year!!!! ,and follow all their new rules they apply when using them, like guard rails on windows, safety rails 4 foot high around floor openings, **** and span clean floors, or face hefty fines if not.

They don't want to ban your stilts, they want to control them, and make it a privilege and not a right to use them.


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## cazna (Mar 28, 2010)

Look what i had to do today to get a job done and make a living, Im so bad. Yes kiwiman, These are awsome ladders to stand on the top of arnt they.

And for those of you wondering my God, Caznas lost it, What messy plastering??

It had a perfectly good ceiling in it they ripped out, Which made one horrible big butt seam to sort, Half new above, Old painted below, Go wide, Go wide.


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## cazna (Mar 28, 2010)

Did some of this too, Its called alto.


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## gazman (Apr 29, 2011)

2buckcanuck said:


> We had stilts banned from Ontario for the longest time, it was actually the Union that got the ban lifted. 2bjr had to go into a University, and they did all types of test on him. They put electrodes on him, made him walk on a treadmill and so on, and climb up and down benches etc........... verdict was stilts were safe, and had less ware and tare on the body compared to climbing benches all day.
> 
> I could get the case study for you guys, so you can send it to your Ministry of labour(or what ever you call it), and this is what will happen.
> 
> ...



We have been through the same thing here. The put a blanket ban on stilts, and then after much study and lobbying by our wall and ceiling assoc and others slowly they are being legal again one state at a time. NSW was the last hold out, but now they have just come to the party. But like the Canucks, you have ( Not half )  to do the course.


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## gazman (Apr 29, 2011)

Here are their guide lines.

http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/for...cuments/plasterers-stilts-fact-sheet-3955.pdf


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