Ladder Defect

The United States Consumer Products Safety Commission statistics show that anywhere from 150,000 to 175,000 people are injured every year in ladder-related incidents. These can happen at work and at home, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a perfectly capable handyman or a teenager trying to hang decorative lights for the holidays – gravity will win every time. In the case that your injury was caused by an apparent ladder defect, contact the personal injury attorneys at Altman & Altman LLP today to get started on a claim.

Ladders are as inherently dangerous as they are lastingly important tools. Whether hanging a high picture on a wall or changing a lightbulb in the home or performing a roof repair on the job, climbing up and down ladders to precarious heights is something people do on a daily basis without giving it too much thought.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 81 percent of falls which occurred among American construction workers were ladder-related in 2011. That same year, ladders were linked to 113 fatalities and 15,460 on-the-job nonfatal injuries. Men and Hispanic individuals had the highest rates of injury. Fall heights of less than 16 feet accounted for 90 percent of nonfatal injuries, so even that simple task of hanging a new flag on the outside of your door can become a serious hazard with a ladder.

Was the ladder defective?

In proving a personal injury claim involving an injury sustained by using a ladder, the individual must be able to show that their fall was the direct result of an unforeseeable malfunction in the ladder’s integrity, not caused by user error or the result of using a ladder that has, for example, been left out in the elements for decades and is rusty or is otherwise clearly not safe for use.

Certain ladders are graded for certain degrees of jobs and use. So, for example, if you purchase a ladder that is only meant to hold 200 pounds and you load up your 250-pound frame with a bucket of paint in each hand and make your way up the steps, you may have a difficult time making a case against the ladder company, unless they failed to specify the weight limit clearly and visibly in writing on the ladder.

There are multiple points of potential failure on any given ladder – most notably each step of the ladder, the end junctions which hold the steps in place and the “feet” or base legs of the ladder. In instances where personal injuries occur due to a ladder problem, any one of these three areas may be the malfunctioning component which led to the tragic flaw.

The personal injury attorneys at Altman & Altman LLP has over 50 years of experience handling personal injury cases in Massachusetts. We have a wealth of professional legal knowledge to successfully pursue even the most robustly well-defended ladder companies, and will hold them accountable if one of their products failed to keep you safe while in the midst of its use.

Injuries which occur while on a ladder can range from temporarily debilitating – broken legs or ankles – to permanently damaging – such as head or spinal cord injuries, resulting in permanent injuries. Such injuries can seriously uproot your life and leave you wondering how you will pay your bills and medical expenses. A successful personal injury claim can help with that, and the attorneys at Altman & Altman will give you the best chance to collect.

If the injury happened while you were at work, we will provide guidance to successfully collect workers’ compensation or pursue a case against your employer if they placed you in an unsafe position. We provide free consultations to go over the details of your case and find out the best options available to you.

Call us today at 617.492.3000 or toll-free at 800.481.6199. We are available 24/7.