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Home › Publications › OHS Regulation › WCB Standards

WCB Standards

WCB Standard: LDR 1-2004 Job Built Ladders

© Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied, reproduced, or distributed for profit or other commercial enterprise, nor may any part be incorporated into any other publication, without written permission of the Workers' Compensation Board of B.C.

1. Scope

This Standard only applies to portable wooden ladders built for use by workers at a job site. This Standard does not apply to ladders which change ownership through sale or otherwise.

Figure 1: Job Built Ladder up to 5 m (16 ft.) Long

2. Design

A portable wooden ladder made at the job site must meet the following minimum requirements.

2.1 Side rails

(1) Side rails

(a) must not be longer than 7.3 m (24 ft);
(b) must be at least

(i) 38 mm x 89 mm (2 in x 4 in nominal) for lengths up to 5 m (16 ft), and
(ii) 38 mm x 140 mm (2 in x 6 in nominal) for lengths from 5 m to 7.3 m (16 ft to 24 ft); and

(c) must not be notched, dapped, tapered or spliced.
(2) The distance between the inner faces of the side rails must not be less than 38 cm (15 in) nor more than 50 cm (20 in).

2.2 Rungs

(1) Rungs must be at least

(a) 19 mm x 64 mm (1 in x 3 in nominal) for ladder lengths up to 5 m (16 ft), and
(b) 19 mm x 89 mm (1 in x 4 in nominal) for ladder lengths from 5 m to 7.3 m (16 ft to 24 ft).
(2) Rungs must be

(a) spaced at 30 cm (12 in) centres, and
(b) nailed directly onto the smaller surfaces of the side rails, using three 57 mm (2¼ in) wire nails on each end of the 89 mm (4 in) rungs, and two nails on each end of the 64 mm (3 in) rungs.
(3) The spaces on the side rails between the rungs must be filled with close fitting and well secured filler pieces that are the same thickness as the rungs.
(4) A double rung ladder must have 3 rails evenly spaced, and be 107 cm to 127 cm (42 in to 50 in) wide, and have continuous rungs which extend the full width of the ladder.

3. Ladder components and coating

(1) Ladder components made from timber materials must be

(a) from lumber graded Number 2 or better and species to be limited to Douglas fir-larch, hemlock-fir, spruce-pine-fir, or coast Sitka spruce; and
(b) graded to National Lumber Grades Authority Standard Grading Rules for Canadian Lumber, or other grading rules acceptable to the board.
(2) A protective coating applied to a wooden ladder, other than a small amount for identification purposes, must be transparent to allow any defects to be discovered by inspection.

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