
Graduate Student
Year Graduated: 2025
Violet Williams
PhD Candidate
PhD Candidate
After HMBL
Pursuing Employment
Violet Williams successfully defended her dissertation entitled “The Impact of Design and Situational Factors on Ladder Safety”!
Committee Chair was Kurt Beschorner and Committee Members included Mark Redfern, Kevin Bell, and Erika Pliner.
See below for an abstract of her work.
Ladder falls are a common source of injury and unintentional injury deaths in the United States. Ladder falls can occur in many different scenarios and the causes of these events are often multifactorial. Due to the large variation in potential factors impacting fall risk in a range of ladder use scenarios, the impact of many factors on ladder safety has yet to be explored. This dissertation explored the impacts of multiple potential factors on ladder climbing safety including ladder design factors and situational factors. Aim 1 of this dissertation quantified the impact of ladder design factors on the stepping safety. A reversed extension ladder configuration and less vertical ladder angles (75˚) were found to have lower required coefficient of friction (RCOF) values during different portions of stance. Aim 2 of this dissertation characterized shoe dynamics during unexpected ladder slip events and developed a model to predict slips using frictional measures. Forward slips were characterized by a 0.34 m/s sliding speed, a normal force of 460 N, and a contact angle of 8˚ dorsiflexed. The available coefficient of friction (ACOF) values obtained with these conditions (8° dorsiflexion, 0.34 m/s, 400 N) were able to predict slip outcomes. However, the difference between ACOF and RCOF was found not to be predictive of slip outcomes. Aim 3 of this dissertation determined the role of risk-availability on risk-taking in a gutter cleaning task on a straight ladder. Risk-availability was found to motivate participants to reach further laterally, with a participant’s reaching disposition (willingness and ability) affecting reaching more when debris was still remaining. The findings from this dissertation may guide future research and interventions (e.g. ladder configuration changes, guidelines for the mechanical slip testing of ladder rungs, risk-taking in ladder tasks) Therefore, this work contributes new knowledge to the ladder design and ladder use situational factors that are expected to advance safety.
People
Graduate Student
Year Graduated: 2025
Violet Williams
PhD Candidate
PhD Candidate
After HMBL
Pursuing Employment
Graduate Student
Year Graduated: 2020
Erika Pliner
After HMBL
Neuroscience Research Australia
Research
2020