Steelscape, Inc. is a national supplier of metallic-coated and pre-painted steel. Their three facilities, located in Washington, California, and Alabama, all focus on providing top quality and reliable products. Steelscape handles processes including skin passing, oiling, chemical treatment, resin coatings and more. The Steelscape facility in Kalama, WA recently contacted SLIPNOT with concerns regarding the safety of their facility.

The design of the Kalama facility in Washington incorporates fixed ladders with smooth and narrow rungs. Throughout their facility, these rungs put employees at risk for slip and fall accidents. Steelscape’s primary concern was a ladder leading to a re-circulation tank in their Skin Pass Mill (SPM). Employees use the fixed ladder in the SPM one to two times every 12 hours to access the basement. According to the Process Engineer at this facility, the nature of the SPM leads to grease depositing on the floor of the basement. The grease is then tracked onto the ladder by employee foot traffic, and because of this, workers say that ladder has always been slick and felt precarious.

Another fixed ladder in Steelscape’s plant presented a risk for slipping and falling. The second ladder of concern was in their quench section, which is also on the galvanizing line. The ladder is only used approximately once per week, but presents a huge risk for Steelscape because it is continually sprayed with a light mist of water. The Process Engineer said “climbing a wet ladder is never safe; the chances of slipping and falling are greatly increased.” Due to the continuous mist of water on the narrow rungs, the ladders are always slippery.

The Process Engineer contacted SLIPNOT to find a slip resistant solution for the fixed ladders in their facility. Steelscape first needed to ensure SLIPNOT non slip ladder rung covers would be the best, long term solution before installing the ladder rungs throughout the entire facility. Therefore, Steelscape decided to order the slip resistant rung covers for the ladder in the SPM. Steelscape would install the rung covers and test them in their facility. If the ladder rung covers proved to employees to be successful over time, Steelscape would consider using SLIPNOT on other fixed ladders in the facility.

Steelscape first ordered five 1” x 1/2” x 1/8” x 10’ Grade 2 steel ladder rung covers for the Skin Pass Mill which were cut to size at their facility. They retrofit the rung covers onto their existing 3/4" round rungs. The SPM is a very greasy environment, and even when the rungs are covered in grease, they still keep workers feeling safe. “Everyone loves them,” the Process Engineer said. Because of the success of the ladder rung covers in the SPM, Steelscape decided to order the non slip ladder rung covers for the second ladder in the quench section of their facility.

“After the success of the SLIPNOT rung covers at the SPM we installed them on the quench section ladder as well.” Six months later, Steelscape placed another order for five 1” x 1/2" x 1/8” x 10’ Grade 2 steel ladder rung covers. The non slip rung covers were cut and then fitted onto the existing 3/4” round rungs. The ladder rung covers still provide a great amount of traction despite the getting sprayed with a continuous mist of water.

Steelscape is very pleased with the SLIPNOT steel ladder rung covers. “A lot of people were skeptical at first, but now we all love them.” SLIPNOT non slip ladder rung covers are a great solution for all facilities that currently are designed with slick, narrow rungs. Even on the fixed ladders with minimal use in the Kalama, WA facility, Steelscape made safety their top priority by installing SLIPNOT rung covers.

“Moving forward, we are installing the SLIPNOT rung covers on all ladders in greasy, oily, or wet environments.” In both of the areas of the facility that previously presented risks, SLIPNOT ladder rung covers have proven to be successful. Steelscape chose steel stock size ladder rung covers for their facility. The non slip ladder rung covers are also available in stainless steel, aluminum and galvanized steel in custom sizes to fit perfectly over existing smooth ladder rungs. SLIPNOT products are guaranteed to hold up over long periods of time in harsh environments, where oil and grease may cause other slip resistant alternatives to fail.