From the course: Occupational Safety and Health: Slips, Trips, and Falls

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Stairs

Stairs

- In the last segment, I mentioned some times when you might need to build temporary stairs or steps. Again, anytime there's an elevation change of more than 19 inches or 48 centimeters, you need a ramp or steps. Steep ramps can be hard to get up and down so steps might be your better solution. Now forbid changes in elevation like getting from one level to another, stairs will also be easier to get up and down than a ladder. And you can more safely carry things as you walk up and down stairs versus a ladder. If this is going to be a pathway that's used for a long period of time, temporary stairs might be your best solution. I have many construction projects where we designed and built temporary stair towers to access the upper levels instead of using extension ladders which was really the norm back when I was in the field. Again, the stair towers are just safer than the ladders. They're easier to navigate. They…

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