 These Washington state workers don't need to be reminded that safety must be their highest priority. Their life depends on it. But did you know these orchard workers can also be injured so badly that they have to take time off from work, simply from falling off a ladder? In a way, the orchard workers are more in danger. The iron workers are protected by nets. In fact, every year over 500 Washington state orchard workers filed injury claims with the Department of Labor and Industries from falling off ladders. And over 200 of them are injured seriously enough they need to stop picking, from a day or two to the rest of their lives. Before you start picking, make sure the ladder you're going to use is safe. Look for loose rivets or fasteners and crack their damaged railing steps and supports. Pay attention especially to the third leg, but the connections to the top of the ladder are all in place. This is not something you only do before you start using it. Keep checking the ladder for damage all through the day. If the ladder isn't safe, report it to your supervisor and set it aside for repair. You should only use a ladder which has passed the safety inspection. To carry the ladder, fold the third leg tight to the rungs and hold it there as you walk. This is the wrong way to carry a ladder any distance. The legs can hit and hurt other pickers or damage a tree. The tripod ladder is used in the orchards because a regular ladder would be almost impossible to set up on uneven ground. Used correctly, the tripod ladder gives a solid feel and a safe climb. But they can also be a source of injury. Linda Mackie is an occupational nurse consultant for the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries in Yakubah. She sees a great number of injuries connected with the use of tripod ladders in the orchards. Ask what she'd say to anyone using a tripod ladder in the orchard. I'd ask them to move slowly, safely and securely. For persons that make their living such as orchard picking, orchard thinning, orchard pruning, even a minor injury to the musculoskeletal system or even a minor injury to the head can be an employment stoppage situation for a long period of time. In other words, your time is valuable. Your time is best spent picking fruit or pruning fruit trees. That's how you support your family. If you can't work because you were injured falling off a ladder, that time is wasted, lost forever. As occupational nurse consultant Mackie said, time spent setting up and using the ladder correctly is time well spent. Your time is too valuable to gamble with it by taking chances. What are we talking about? Setting up the ladder on an unstable or slippery surface is the primary reason ladders fall over. Take the time to make sure the rail legs have a firm, solid ground contact, not on soft mud or rotting fruit. Bob Tallman has spent most of his life manufacturing tripod orchard ladders. He joined with his father and uncle in 1954 to build the first tripod orchard ladder using aluminum. Mr. Tallman says the correct way to spread the pole or third leg in an orchard is to stand under the ladder with one hand on the frame and the other on the pole so you can set the pole without damaging the fruit. A professional fruit picker or pruner would very carefully extend it while keeping the pole under full control. But so we can see better how to do it, Mr. Tallman agreed to demonstrate setting up a ladder in an open field. To set up a ladder on a slope, if you are setting it up directly up the slope, you want the base of the ladder downhill with the pole or the third leg facing directly up the hill. The proper way angle is checked by putting your toes in front of the ladder and your arms should go out and just touch the front of the ladder. This one here, my fingertips are not touching the front of the ladder so it needs to be tilted just slightly more. We'll come around and we'll take the pole, set it out just a little bit further. Once again, the toes in front of the ladder, that's just a little bit too much, we'll drag it back. That's the proper angle. To ascend the ladder, keep both hands on the rail. Step on the first step and sink it into the turf just a little bit. Lunge so that that third leg is into the turf and it is now properly situated. To climb the ladder, put both your hands on the rails and climb so that you have the proper grip on the ladder. Keep your belt buckle area between the confines of the side rails of the ladder and don't overextend your reach as to lose your balance either to the left or to the right. And as you come up the ladder it gets narrower so it gives you a narrower range with what to operate. So there again keep your belt buckle area between the side rails. As you come down toward the base where the ladder is getting wider you have a wider range with which to operate and reach the fruit or prune the trees. To set up the ladder on a cross slope, we are now cross sloped with the downhill to the right. Once again you set your angle, get your proper angle of the ladder and then position the ladder so that the pole is slightly downhill on the cross slope. Once again position your ladder stable and you can go up. It gives you better stability with a cross slope going this way and that third pole is slightly downhill for greater stability. Here again we'll position it in the other way. At this position we have the ground sloping to our left downhill. We'll set up the proper angle, adjust the ladder so that the third leg is slightly downslope. Check to make sure that the three points are firm. Ascend the ladder again with both hands and this gives you proper positioning for a cross slope that goes to your left. Mr. Tallman demonstrated how to set up a tripod ladder on sloping ground where most orchards are planted in order to give the fruit long exposure to the sun. On the other hand if the ground is relatively level the third leg should be approximately centered between the rails as you would set it up on a hill. If you don't put the third leg out far enough the ladder may fall over backwards when you start to climb it. Or if the third leg is placed too far out from the ladder there will be the danger of the third leg slipping all the way out and the ladder falling down. Never lean the ladder against the tree for support. The tree limbs can snap, break or flex. The ladder must stand on its own three legs. Before climbing the ladder make sure the rungs or steps are clean of any debris and that no branches are sticking out between the rungs. When you step on the first rung and before you start climbing test to see if the ladder is stable and to set the feet into the ground. This is another good time to check the ladder for structural damage. This is one job where wearing proper fitting clothing will make a difference. It is a lot safer if the length of your pants leg is short enough to prevent it from being caught on the heel of your shoes. The soles of your shoes should be relatively stiff to help prevent your feet from getting tired standing on the rungs of the ladder. You must have a proper heel to prevent your foot from slipping through the steps on the ladder. Tennis or sports shoes might be more comfortable in most situations but they don't belong on a ladder. Your foot and leg could easily slip through the rung of the ladder cause you to tumble backwards off the ladder hit your head on the ground or lower rungs of the ladder. This could cause a major injury to your head and back or even death. Again Nurse Mackie. Some of the more serious injuries that we see are loss of consciousness due to head trauma. Here's some simple rules for working safely on a ladder. Facing the ladder is always the safest way of going up or down the ladder. With a full bag of fruit you may need to turn sideways to keep your feet facing inward and your heels outside the rungs. We've all done this habitually. It seems to make sense. We're only on the first or second rung of the ladder and the fruit is right there. Why waste time moving the ladder? We'll just turn around and pick the fruit. Is the gamble in order to save time moving the ladder worth the risk? You decide. Since your foot is not secured to the rung of the ladder by your heel it is very easy for your foot to slip off the rung and hit the lower rung or the ground with your heel and fracture it. According to L&I's occupational nurse Linda Mackie We get a lot of falls where they land on their calcaneus so they've got a fracture in their heel. So it doesn't seem, you know, I mean heels are a nice robust bone but you bear so much weight top to bottom in terms of your balance every time you initiate a footstep between heel and first toe then even a minor injury like that will keep you from maintaining balance when you go up rungs of the ladder. So recovery and return to work is much delayed way greater than one would think. The risk is huge. It's entirely possible that you could lose the ability to work for the entire harvest season just from the relatively minor injury you sustained from slipping off the second rung of the ladder. Is it worth the gamble? Isn't the time you need to finish working the entire season to support your family worth taking the time to do the job safely to work smart? Keep your belt buckle between the side rails. If your fruit or your body extends too far beyond the rails you could easily lose your balance and tumble off the ladder. Start picking at the top of the ladder and pick on the way down. So when the bag or basket fills up you are near the bottom of the ladder. Keep both hands on the ladder as you climb or descend each hand grasping and sliding along the side rails always in contact with the ladder and ready to clamp on if needed especially if a foot slips. If you do this it is very hard to become unbalanced and tumble off the ladder. This is so important for your safety. Let us review that rule again. As the ladder has three contacts with the ground so your body should always have three contacts with the ladder when climbing or descending. Both hands and one foot. It is good idea to practice climbing and descending using the three point system until it becomes second nature in your work. If at all possible don't carry anything up or down the ladder in your hand. Of course we can't forget the reason you're climbing the ladder is to pick fruit. To save time you may be tempted to forget these rules. If you fall and are injured the time you wanted to save won't make any difference and remember if you are injured it's your loved ones who will generally be the most hurt. Work safely and do it right the first time. Don't step out on a branch to extend your reach. It is dangerous and could cause the ladder to tip over away from you leaving you dangling in mid-air before you fall. Or you could lose your balance and fall off the ladder either way. Injuries received from falls generally take a long time to heal. It's hard to support a family from a hospital bed. The risk is not worth any time you might say. Pick only the fruit you can reach while keeping your belt buckle between the rails and one hand holding onto the ladder. If you can't reach it safely descend the ladder, move the ladder over set it up correctly climb back up and pick the fruit you can safely reach. Don't try to walk the ladder to a different location. Walking the ladder is prohibitive because it is unsafe and it can cause the rivets to snap the braces to break and the ladder to become loose. Never climb higher than the second step from the top and don't sit on the top or any other wrong while picking. There the rules are simple and sensible. Successful people know their time is money and they won't let anyone steal it from them. The same can be said about your time. You are also a professional. It takes skill and experience to do your job. Your time is money. Don't gamble with it. Don't take shortcuts with the ladder trying to save a few seconds. You are gambling that you won't have an accident which might rob you of any time you might have to work. It isn't worth it. Real time comes from being able to use your time safely to make a living for you and your family. Work smart, work safely. It is also wise to get plenty of sleep every night. If you come to work all tired out you may be tempted to reach out too far or climb too high or not move the ladder to reach the fruit safely. That's when accidents happen. It's not worth it. It's also important to keep yourself hydrated during the hot weather. Drink water often. At the start of this program we compared the danger of iron workers high on the sky with fruit pickers on a tripod ladder. Both are in danger of falling and getting badly hurt or worse. But they both continue to work even with the danger. They do it by working smart. By not taking shortcuts that put themselves or their fellow workers in danger of injury. They don't gamble with their safety. They take the time to do it right to do it safely. Accidents don't have to happen. Accidents can be prevented by taking the time to do it safely. For more information please visit our website www.lni.wa.gov