Recently US Safety Inc was performing ladder inspections, maintenance, & coatings for a large client in the Chicago area. The client’s main concern besides being compliant with OSHA’s annual ladder inspection requirement was to deal with complaints from technicians regarding “fiber bloom”. US Safety has been coating ladders for many years, but it seems that recently coatings have been one of our most common requests for services. I wanted to take the time to show you some of the before and after photos of our ladder coatings.
Every ladder company has different requirements for the type of coating and the preparation procedure, but in this blog post we are going to concentrate on the basic procedure of before, during, & after without getting in to the specific details. The before pictures show how the ladder looks almost like it has a fur coat on due to the fiberglass coating breaking down due to UV damage. The after sanding photos show how the labor intensive process of scrubbing the ladder can remove the itchy fibers, but not the future issues causing the irritation for the technician. Finally, the combination of side by side photos and closeup after photos will definitively show you the stark differences between a coated and coated ladder. The difference is not limited to just rough versus smooth in the appearance of the fiberglass, but the rejuvenation of the color in the ladder as well. It is not uncommon for technicians to think that they are receiving a new ladder when they come to pickup coated ladders.
If you have an aging ladder fleet, or you just want to protect your ladder fleet from future fiber bloom call us today! 847-460-2087 We would love to start a conversation with you today.
Before the ladder has been scrubbed or coated After the ladder has been scrubbed Side by Side of a coated and uncoated ladder Close up picture of a ladder after it has been scrubbed and coated The difference in the ladder color is usually what is seen first, but the lack of itch is the greatest benefit to the technician!
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