Safety ladders have several benefits beyond simply ensuring the safety of the people who climb them; one that we have touched on fairly frequently is the fact that they cannot simply be moved to scale a structure at an unsafe point.
But an image retweeted by NASC, the National Access and Scaffolding Confederation, shows that in some circumstances there might be other specific challenges to overcome too.
The image was originally posted by Malvern Scaffolding, and shows extensive cantilevered scaffolding used on the side of a castle, which had to be erected from a boat floating in the castle’s moat.
Clearly with a castle, there may be restrictions on which methods of access may be used, but the image highlights the challenges of working with structures that are very close to water.
To overcome these challenges, safety ladders can be fixed permanently into place, so there are no future access difficulties – even if arriving at the ladder by boat.
And it may be even more important to protect the waterside edge of the roof with adequate guardrails and other suitable edge protection, to prevent any individuals or equipment from falling off and into the water.