Ladder%20Failures

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Ladder Failures

• Per Reinhall

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Ladder cases

• More than half a million people in the United
  States suffer ladder-related injuries every year
• More than 300 people die each year in the U.S.
  from ladder injuries
• The principles of product liability hold
  manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and
  retailers responsible for injuries caused by
  their products. A product liability claim is
  usually based on design defects, manufacturing
  defects of insufficient warning documentation,
  often termed as "failure to warn."

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• Federal Reform Attempts
• The closest the U.S. Congress has ever come to
  enacting broad-scope product liability reform was
  in 1998. In that year, Congress passed the
  Federal Product Liability Fairness Act. This bill
  would have limited punitive damage awards to the
  greater of 250,000 or twice compensatory
  damages.

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• It would have also
• Required plaintiffs to present a stronger case
  by raising the standard of evidence to "clear and
  convincing" from the current "preponderance of
  the evidence.
• Required plaintiffs to show that a manufacturer
  acted with a "conscious and flagrant indifference
  to the safety of others" in order to prevail.
• Abolished the application of "joint and
  severable liability," thus ending the practice of
  suing "deep pocket" defendants with little or no
  liability.

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Design Flaws

• A single motion of the release bar can unlock
  both hinges at a joint while loaded
• The release bar is shaped such that it can be
  kicked by the user. This can cause collapse of
  the ladder by unlocking both hinges in a joint.
• A low level of force on the release bar can
  unlock both hinges in a joint even when the
  ladder is fully loaded.
• The release bar can snap into locked position
  with an audible noise without total engagement of
  the locking pins. It is therefore possible for a
  user to get the impression that a joint is
  properly locked when it is not.

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LADDER SATISFYING THE ANSI A14.2 STANDARD WITH
ONE MIDDLE HINGE UNLOCKED
75.5 degrees
Torque11,000 in-lb
1000 lb
52 degrees
Torque11,000 in-lb
355 lb
CONCLUSION A ladder satisfying the ANSI A14.2
standard can easily support the weight of a 230
lb person when the ladder is at 52 degrees and
one middle hinge unlocked
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THE SUBJECT LADDER WITH ONE MIDDLE HINGE
UNLOCKED
75.5 degrees
Torque5,805 in-lb
518 lb
52 degrees
Torque5,805 in-lb
187 lb
CONCLUSION The subject ladder cannot support the
weight of a 230 lb person when the ladder is at
52 degrees and one middle hinge unlocked
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