Most people who fall from a ladder at work assume the accident resulted from human error or their employer’s failure to maintain a safe workplace. Sometimes it’s neither. When the ladder itself was defective, the company that designed it, manufactured it, distributed it, or rented it may bear legal responsibility for the injuries that resulted. Product liability claims in ladder injury cases represent a distinct avenue of recovery that exists entirely outside the workers’ compensation system and can produce substantially different outcomes for seriously injured workers.
Types of Ladder Defects That Cause Falls
Product liability law recognizes three categories of defects, each of which can apply to a ladder that fails during workplace use.
Design defects exist when the ladder’s fundamental design creates an unreasonable risk of failure under foreseeable conditions. A ladder engineered with an insufficient load rating for the industries where it’s marketed, rungs spaced at intervals that compromise stability, or a locking mechanism design that is prone to unexpected release may have a design defect that affects every unit ever produced under that design.
Manufacturing defects exist when a specific ladder was produced incorrectly even though the underlying design was sound. A cracked or weakened rung that passed through quality control, an improperly welded side rail, a defective hinge mechanism on a step ladder, or a failed rivet that compromises structural integrity can all constitute manufacturing defects that cause the ladder to fail during normal use.
Failure to warn defects exist when a ladder lacks adequate warnings about its limitations, proper use, weight capacity, or conditions under which it should not be used. When a worker isn’t given the information they need to use a ladder safely, and the absence of that information contributed to a fall, a failure to warn claim may be available against the manufacturer, distributor, or retailer.
Who Can Be Held Liable in a Defective Ladder Case
Multiple parties in the supply chain may bear responsibility when a defective ladder injures a Milwaukee worker:
- The ladder’s manufacturer is typically the primary defendant in a design or manufacturing defect case
- A distributor who sold a ladder they knew or should have known was defective may share liability
- An equipment rental company that rented a defective ladder without proper inspection or maintenance may face liability independent of the manufacturer
- A retailer who sold a ladder and failed to pass along adequate warning information may be implicated in a failure to warn claim
Wisconsin follows strict liability principles for product defects, which means an injured worker doesn’t have to prove the manufacturer was negligent. Under Wisconsin product liability law, demonstrating that the product was defective and that the defect caused the injury is sufficient to establish liability.
How Product Liability Claims Work Alongside Workers’ Compensation
Wisconsin allows injured workers to pursue product liability claims against third parties simultaneously with their workers’ compensation claims under Wisconsin Statute 102.29. Workers’ compensation continues to pay medical benefits and wage replacement while the product liability case proceeds.
The civil product liability claim can recover damages workers’ comp doesn’t address, including pain and suffering, full lost wages, and compensation for permanent disability beyond what the workers’ comp impairment rating system provides. For workers with serious injuries from a ladder fall caused by a defective product, this additional recovery can be substantial.
Why Preserving the Ladder Is Critical
The most important step in a product liability case is preserving the ladder exactly as it was after the accident. If the ladder is repaired, replaced, scrapped, or returned to a rental company before it can be inspected by an engineering expert, the physical evidence of the defect disappears. An attorney can send an immediate litigation hold and preservation demand to prevent disposal of the ladder and any related equipment.
Hickey & Turim, S.C. handles both workers’ compensation and product liability claims for Milwaukee workers injured in ladder accidents. A Milwaukee ladder injury at work lawyer can evaluate whether the ladder’s condition contributed to your fall and identify every party whose negligence or product defect played a role.
