Ladder Safety for Aussie Homes (the Bits That Get People Killed)

By Mick — handyman, Newcastle NSW.

I’ll skip the joke this week because this article is the one where I take it seriously. Falls from ladders are the number-one home renovation injury in Australia per Safe Work Australia data, and the bit nobody tells you is that most of those falls happen at under 2 metres — gutter height, downlight height, the height where you think “she’ll be right, I’m only up here a sec”. The ones that kill people are the ones that nobody planned for. The ladder slips. The user reaches sideways. The rail at the top sits on a brittle tile and snaps. None of that is a dramatic 6-metre roof fall. It’s the second rung of a step ladder while changing a light bulb.

I do home maintenance every day and I have had two close calls in fifteen years — both on ladders, both because I cut a corner I knew about. Since then I have a four-rule pre-climb check that takes about 30 seconds and I have never had a third close call. Boring as it is, that’s the article. Plus the Aussie-specific stuff: tile roofs, the 100 kg limit, the stand-off bracket law, and which brands are actually rated for trade use here vs which ones get sold as trade and shouldn’t be.

If you read nothing else, read Step 1 and Step 5. Those two between them prevent most of what hurts people.

What you’ll need

• The right ladder for the job — see Step 2, this is where most decisions go wrong
• A ladder rated for your bodyweight plus tools, with margin (Step 3 explains the 100 kg trap)
• Stand-off bracket / ladder stay if you’re going on a tile or metal roof gutter
• Non-slip footwear — tradie boots, not thongs, not Crocs, not sock-foot
• A tool belt or bucket-on-rope so you climb with two hands free
• A second person at the base for any climb above 3 m, no exceptions
• A helmet if you’re going above 3 m or under any low overhead

Step 1: The four-rule pre-climb check (memorise this)

Before you put weight on any ladder, every time:

1. Footing — both feet of the ladder on level, hard, dry ground. No grass. No mulch. No wet concrete. If the ground is uneven, use a ladder leveller, not a stack of bricks.
2. Angle — extension ladders go at 1:4 (one out for every four up). Step ladders open fully, spreader bars locked.
3. Lock — extension ladder rung locks engaged on both rails. Step ladder spreader bar fully extended and rigid.
4. Top — if leaning on a structure, the top must rest on something rigid that won’t break. NOT a tile. NOT a gutter. NOT a fly screen. NOT a downpipe.

Thirty seconds. If any of the four fails, stop and fix before you climb. This single check prevents about 90% of the bad ones.

Step 2: Pick the right ladder for the job

Most people own one ladder and try to make it do everything. That’s where injuries start. The rough rule:

• Step ladder (1.5–2.5 m) — interior work, light bulbs, ceiling fans, painting cornices. Self-supporting, no wall needed.
• Extension ladder (3.5–6 m) — gutter cleaning, eaves painting, fascia repair. Needs a structure to lean on.
• Platform ladder — if you’re going to be up there for more than ten minutes (cornice painting, electrical work). The platform stops your feet cramping and your balance going.
• Multi-fold (Little Giant style) — versatile, but heavy and only as safe as your patience for re-locking the joints.

If you’re at the limit of a step ladder for an outdoor job, you’ve picked the wrong ladder — get an extension.

Step 3: Aussie ladder ratings — the 100 kg trap

This is the gotcha that gets people, and it’s specifically Australian. AS/NZS 1892.5 rates step ladders by working load limit (WLL). Most domestic step ladders sold at Bunnings — Ozito, Bailey Pro Punchlock domestic range, and most no-name aluminium — are rated to 100 kg WLL. That’s the user PLUS clothing PLUS tools PLUS materials. A 95 kg adult holding a 4 L paint pot (5 kg) is at 100 kg before you count boots and a tool belt. He’s already over.

Industrial / trade-rated step ladders are 120 kg or 150 kg WLL — and they are usually fibre-glass rather than aluminium. The two brands actually rated and trusted for trade use in Aussie homes are Trojan and Branach. Bailey’s Pro range goes there too. If you weigh over 90 kg or carry tools, do not buy a 100 kg ladder. The cost difference is $50 once. The cost of a fall is the rest of your life.

Step 4: Tile roof access — stand-off bracket is not optional

If you are accessing a tile roof — to clean a gutter, fix a TV antenna, repaint a chimney — leaning your extension ladder against the gutter is not legal under AS/NZS 1892.1, and physically it’s daft. Tile-roof gutters sit on tile edges. Tiles snap. Gutters bend. Your top rail slips sideways and you’re going down. You need a stand-off bracket (sometimes called a ladder stay or wall stay) that fits over the top of the ladder and pushes the contact points 250–400 mm clear of the gutter, onto the roof tiles themselves spread across multiple tiles, or onto the wall above the gutter. Bunnings sells them, Bailey makes a good one, around $80. Trojan makes a heavier-duty one that’s worth the upgrade if you’re going to do this regularly. No bracket, no tile-roof access. Period.

Step 5: Three points of contact — every move

Two feet plus one hand, OR two hands plus one foot, on the ladder at all times. That means: never carry tools up by hand. Use a tool belt or a bucket on a rope hauled up after you. Never reach more than an arm’s length sideways — your belt buckle should stay between the two ladder rails, always. If you have to reach further, climb down and move the ladder. Every. Single. Time. The two close calls I had were both me reaching just one more inch sideways. Both times the ladder twisted. Both times I caught it. The third time I won’t.

Step 6: Don’t climb above the third rung from the top

On an extension ladder, the top three rungs are not for standing on. The handrails need to be above your hips for balance — if your feet are on the top rung, the rails are below your hips and there’s nothing to hold or fall against. On a step ladder, the top step (“THIS IS NOT A STEP” stickered platform) is not for standing on either. If the ladder isn’t tall enough, get a taller ladder. This is not an area for improvisation.

Step 7: Wet, windy, or after-dark — don’t go up

Aluminium ladders on wet concrete slip. Wind catches you sideways at gutter height — a 40 km/h gust at 4 m up is more force than you’d believe. After-dark you can’t see ground irregularities, slick spots, or where your weight is going. None of these jobs are emergencies. Wait for tomorrow morning. Eight hours of patience versus a fortnight in hospital is not a hard maths problem.

Step 8: Set up an exclusion zone if anyone else is home

If kids, partner or pets are home, tape off the base of the ladder area or close the gate. The bit that gets people isn’t usually slipping themselves — it’s the dog running underfoot at the moment they were committing weight. Or a kid coming through the door you didn’t see. Set the zone, tell the household, then climb.

Step 9: Inspect the ladder before every use

Look at the rails for dents, splits or corrosion. Aluminium ladders dent if they’ve fallen — those dents become stress points. Fibre-glass ladders crack under UV exposure if left in the sun for years (the rails go fuzzy, fibres exposed — that ladder is done). Check rung locks engage. Check spreader bars lock fully. Check feet rubbers aren’t worn smooth. A 10-second look before each climb catches the failures that won’t show up till you’re 4 m up.

Step 10: For anything above 3 m, second person at the base

The cost of getting a mate over is a beer. The cost of being found alone with a broken hip in the side yard is two hours of nobody knowing where you are. For any extension ladder work above 3 m — gutter cleaning, antenna, fascia — have someone at the base footing the ladder and watching. Even if all they do is hold the rails steady and call triple zero if it goes wrong, that’s the difference between a slip and a fatality.

The Mick rule

“Four-rule check, three points of contact, never the top three rungs, never on a tiled gutter without a stand-off bracket, and never alone above 3 m. The ladder doesn’t kill people. Shortcuts on the ladder kill people. There is no job that’s worth skipping the check.”

Got a ladder near-miss story or a setup that saved you from one? Send us a write-up.