# SWP - Ground Ladder Operations > Fire Service Safety Management System, version 0.3.3 (2026-10-25). The Human Factor. Document FSSMS-SWP-15. > > Canonical: https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-ground-ladder-operations > > Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 with the Adopting Agency Grant (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) > > General information only, not legal, medical or other professional advice. Verify every requirement against the current official text of the law, standards and manufacturer instructions that apply to you. Obtain your own legal review and consult your joint health and safety committee before adopting anything. You adopt, adapt, implement and rely on this material entirely at your own risk and on your own responsibility. Full terms: Terms of Use, thehumanfactor.ca. > **Warning: Adoption without implementation increases legal exposure** > > Adopting this procedure without the training, equipment, supervision, verification and resources to carry it out as written increases municipal and command liability in a regulatory investigation or a fatality inquiry. See [00a Copyright, Licence and Legal Notices](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/copyright-licence-and-legal-notices). > **Speak up: Speak up** > > Anyone can stop this task if it looks wrong. Say the hazard, then the action: “Stop, hold the ladder, the butt is on ice.” The officer acknowledges, acts, and reviews it later for learning, never on the spot. Debrief question for this task: where was the ladder heeled or tied, and was there a moment when nobody had it? ## 1. Task and when this applies Carrying, raising, placing, climbing, working from and lowering ground ladders at incidents, in training and at the station (ladder inspection and cleaning). It applies to every member and every ladder the department carries, including attic and folding ladders. The roof ladder on a pitched roof is covered here for the raise and the climb and in [SWP - Roof and Vertical Ventilation Operations](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-roof-and-vertical-ventilation-operations) for the roof work. ## 2. Hazards - Fall from the ladder while climbing or working (the ladder slips at the base, the tip slides, the member leans out, the member lets go to work with both hands). - Ladder failure: heat-damaged, overloaded, impact-damaged or untested ladder; broken halyard or pawl. - Contact with overhead conductors during the raise or the lowering. - Crush and strain injuries during carries and raises; the ladder falling onto a member or a bystander. - Falls from the tip onto a roof or through a window; the ladder knocked away from the building by a crew below. - Ice, mud, loose gravel, wet grass and sloped ground at the base. - Fire conditions at the window or roof the ladder serves. ## 3. Controls in hierarchy order 1. **Elimination.** Use the aerial or an interior stair where it serves the task as well; do not ladder a building where the size-up says the roof or the floor cannot be worked. 2. **Substitution.** Choose the shortest ladder that reaches with the correct angle, and the lightest carry for the crew available. 3. **Engineering.** Ladders designed and service tested to the NFPA ground ladder standard [(NFPA 1930, 2024)](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-ground-ladder-operations#ref-nfpa-1930); heat sensor labels; roof hooks; non-slip feet; tested halyards and pawls. 4. **Administrative.** This procedure; the climbing angle; heeling or tie-off whenever a member is on the ladder; the rated load; monthly inspection and annual service test ([Working at Heights and Fall Protection Program](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/working-at-heights-and-fall-protection-program) section 5.4); an electrical size-up before every raise; a second means of egress planned before the first member climbs. 5. **PPE.** Full structural ensemble and helmet at incidents; gloves; a ladder belt or leg lock when working from the ladder with both hands. ## 4. Required PPE and equipment Structural firefighting ensemble (incident) or the training ensemble the evolution requires; helmet with chinstrap; gloves; ladder belt where the task calls for one; the ladder sized to the task; a tool to secure the tip (strap or rope hose tool) where the ladder will be worked from; a radio on the climbing member or the officer. ## 5. Minimum staffing and competencies Two members for any ladder above a one-person ladder; three or four for a 35-foot (10.7 m) extension; one member heels or ties off whenever another is on the ladder. Every member holds the ground ladder job performance requirements [(NFPA 1010, 2024)](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-ground-ladder-operations#ref-nfpa-1010) and the department’s annual skills check. The company officer directs the placement. ## 6. Step-by-step procedure 1. **Size up the task.** Decide what the ladder is for (access, egress, rescue, roof, ventilation), which window or roof point, and which ladder reaches it at the right angle. **Decision point: is there a second egress for the member who will go up? If not, plan one before the raise.** 2. **Look up.** Check for overhead conductors, service drops and tree limbs along the carry route and the raise. **Decision point: can the raise be made with the minimum clearance the department adopts ({{Minimum electrical clearance}})? If not, choose another route or another ladder.** 3. **Check the base.** Level, firm, free of ice, mud and debris; use a ladder foot on sloped or soft ground; clear the drop zone. 4. **Carry and raise** with the number of members the ladder needs, using the carries and raises taught in the department’s skills program; keep the ladder close to the building during the raise; call the movements. 5. **Set the angle.** Base at about one quarter of the working height from the wall (about 75 degrees); test the climbing angle by standing at the base with arms out to the rungs. 6. **Extend and lock.** Extend with the halyard, confirm both pawls locked by sight and sound, tie the halyard, set the tip two to three rungs above a roof line or at the sill or just below it for a window, as the task requires. 7. **Heel or tie off.** One member heels (foot on the beam, hands on the beams, eyes up) or ties the ladder to a secure point at the base and the tip before any climb. **The ladder is never climbed without a heel or a tie-off.** 8. **Climb** with three points of contact, hands on the rungs or beams, eyes forward, tools carried as taught; one member on the fly section at a time unless the rated load allows more; no sliding down beams. 9. **Work from the ladder** only after a leg lock or a ladder belt hooked to a rung; work facing the ladder, hips between the beams; never lean out past the beams. 10. **At the tip.** Before stepping onto a roof, sound it and confirm the roof ladder or the aerial path; before entering a window, check conditions and the floor; keep the ladder in place for the climber’s return. 11. **Lower** only when every member is off and the officer calls it; retract after releasing the pawls with the halyard, hands clear of the sections; carry away by the same route check. 12. **After the call.** Inspect every ladder used for heat exposure (sensor labels), impact or overloading; tag out and report any doubt; record on the station record. > **Warning: Stop-work triggers** > > Nobody heeling or tying the ladder; a conductor within the adopted clearance; a tripped heat sensor label or visible damage; ice or soft ground at the base that cannot be corrected; fire showing from the window or roof point the ladder serves; the member at the tip without a leg lock or belt while using both hands; wind that moves the ladder during the raise. ## 7. Emergency and contingency - **Member falls:** call the mayday or the medical response per [SWP - Mayday](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-mayday); do not move the member except from immediate danger; the incident safety officer secures the scene for the review. - **Ladder contacts a conductor:** nobody touches the ladder or the member on it; call the utility; treat the area as energized until confirmed de-energized; medical for any contact. - **Ladder slips with a member on it:** the heeler holds and calls; the climber hugs the ladder; lower under control; medical check. - **Member trapped at the tip by fire:** second egress deployed (the planned ladder or the aerial); mayday; RIT. ## 8. Documentation and reporting Any fall, slip, conductor contact, ladder failure or near miss is reported before the end of the shift and reviewed under [Incident Investigation and Learning Program](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/incident-investigation-and-learning-program) (Tier 1 for every near miss; Tier 2 for a fall or a conductor contact). Ladders used at fires are inspected and recorded on the station ladder record; heat, impact or overload sends the ladder for a service test ([Form - Ladder and Aerial Inspection and Test Record](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/form-ladder-and-aerial-inspection-and-test-record)). ## 9. Training and review Recruit training to the ground ladder job performance requirements; annual skills check signed by an instructor; the company officer signs off each member’s annual check. This procedure is reviewed by the Technical Rescue Program Improvement Team every three years, after any fall or conductor contact, and after any change in ladders, apparatus or the ground ladder standard; the JOHSC is consulted on every revision. ## 10. Related [Working at Heights and Fall Protection Program](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/working-at-heights-and-fall-protection-program); [Policy - Working at Heights](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/policy-working-at-heights); [SWP - Roof and Vertical Ventilation Operations](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-roof-and-vertical-ventilation-operations); [SWP - Aerial Device Operations](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-aerial-device-operations); [Form - Ladder and Aerial Inspection and Test Record](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/form-ladder-and-aerial-inspection-and-test-record); [Checklist - Working at Heights and Fall Protection](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/checklist-working-at-heights-and-fall-protection). ## Jurisdiction requirements This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it. | Topic | What to check in your jurisdiction | Page | |:---|:---|:---| | Equipment Inspection, Ladders and Aerial Devices | The design and service-testing standards required for fire service ground ladders, and whether firefighting and rescue are relieved from the general ladder rules | [J15 Equipment Inspection, Ladders and Aerial Devices](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/j15-equipment-inspection-ladders-and-aerial-devices) | ## References National Fire Protection Association. (2024). *NFPA 1010, Standard on professional qualifications for firefighters* (consolidates NFPA 1001, 1002, 1003 and 1005). National Fire Protection Association. (2024). *NFPA 1930, Standard on fire and emergency service use of thermal imagers, two-way portable RF voice communication devices, ground ladders, rescue tools, fire hose, and fire hose appliances* (consolidates NFPA 1931, 1932, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1965, among others).