Buying Tips

• Ensure the ladder is the right height for the jobs you are likely to use it for.
• Check the weight capacity of the ladder.
• If you are a senior citizen or a person with disability you may be eligible for assistance with home maintenance from either your council or local agencies.

35 Injuries per day

36 Deaths per year

Safe Work Australia has the latest report...

A 27-year-old German woman has died after falling 13 storeys at a Perth construction site on Monday afternoon. The woman fell at the 38-storey Finbar development on Adelaide Terrace at East Perth WA.

Worksafe said the woman had fallen down a ventilation shaft, from the 15th floor to the 2nd.

An Illinois contractor, who Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says has willfully disregarded worker safety laws for years, faces US$89,100 in new penalties.

Working up high is dangerous. Falling from any height can lead to death or long-term injuries.

Over the past three years more than 13,000 workers were injured after falling from a height at NSW workplaces. Nineteen died and more than 200 were permanently disabled.

These incidents largely happen in the construction, manufacturing, telecommunications, transport, agriculture and forestry industries.

Lee Bertram fell to his death from Brent Charlie, one of four platforms in the Brent Oilfield off the Scottish coast.

Lowestoft-based Bilfinger Salamis UK admitted breaching regulations after an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Aberdeen Sheriff Court fined the firm £100,000.

An offshore worker died today after falling into the sea from a North Sea oil platform. 

The employee suffered fatal injuries from the fall at about 4am off the BP Unity rig, which is a pumping station based in the Forties pipeline system almost 100 east of Aberdeen UK.

The incident was reported to police at around 4.40am and the Health and Safety Executive said it was liaising with police, who confirmed they had been 'made aware of a death offshore'.

Unions are calling for tougher safety regulations and enforcement to stop workers falling to their deaths at worksites, saying more people will be killed unless self-regulation is scrapped.

Falls from heights are a major cause of death and injury in Australian workplaces, according to Safe Work Australia.

Of the 800,000 Australians who work at heights, including tradesmen, cleaning, and maintenance workers, on average 26 of them fall to their death each year, and almost 8,000 are injured.