In today's modern world, myth, legend and superstition may be considered to have little part to play. But despite this, many people take great interest in the little wives tales that surround us and a fair few actually heed the morals and warnings that they contain.  A black cat has caused the hairs on many a back of the neck to stand to attention, not to mention the seemingly ingrained instinct to handle any mirror with the up most care and respect for fear of breaking it and gaining 7 years bad luck. Another superstition that appears to be fixed in the British psyche is, of course, that it is bad luck to walk under ladders. Now, this does make sense from the outset. Ladders can be wobbly: there is a risk that the person working on the ladder may drop something or indeed fall themselves onto anyone that may be walking underneath (although the person falling from a ladder might think it good luck to have a soft person to land on!) and the structure that they form is quite enclosed. Standing under a ladder, even without anyone at the top, does not fill one with a sense of security and comfort. We shall discuss more on the literal sense of why it is a bad idea to walk under a ladder later on, but does the superstition actually have any grounding in safety and good work practice?

Ladders, Egyptians and Death

The oldest civilisations held the ladder in high regard: the symbolism of its shape was very important to both the Ancient Egyptians and the early followers of the Christian faith. For Egyptians, their beliefs held that ladders were the tools that allowed the souls of the departed to enter the afterlife. Such a belief was demonstrated by placing a ladder next to the tomb of the deceased and should anyone choose to walk under the ladder, the perpetrator would suffer considerable bad luck. This was because the action of a living body interfering with the ladder would prevent the soul of the dead from making its journey to the underworld. For Christians, the symbolism lies in the shape of the ladder.  A standing ladder resembles a triangle, which is a representation of the holy trinity: the father, the son and the Holy Ghost. To walk through a ladder breaks the shape of a triangle, and is considered to be an expression of disbelief in, and therefore contempt for, the trinity. Anyone caught doing this would have immediately been placed in league with the devil and if you were a woman, you would have been branded a witch fit only for burning.  The holy trinity is still an important part of modern Christian beliefs, particularly for strict Roman Catholics, who continue to revere the shape of a ladder and avoid walking under one as part of daily practice of their faith. Ladders held a lot of power for members of the Christian faith, particularly when the religion was still relatively young. In the 12th Century, a monk named John Climacus wrote a treatise entitled The Ladder of Divine Ascent. This treatise became a key document used to teach ordinary Christians how to obtain religious perfection and become closer to God.  This ladder had 30 steps to represent the 30 years of the life of Jesus Christ and encouraged followers of Christianity to strive for a more holy existence, renouncing modern pleasures and ways of living. Moving towards more practical reason as to why walking under a ladder can bring you bad luck, is the medieval mindset that linked ladders with the gallows. Ladders were used practically as a way to reach up and cut down the hanging cadaver and if you were to walk under the ladder during this process, chances were that you would incur injury by a swinging corpse. Medieval Brits were a superstitious bunch, so even if they did not always subscribe to the God fearing reasons for not walking under ladders, they did associate ladders with death and many thought that to walk under any ladder would increase your chances of hanging yourself.

So, You've Walked Under a Ladder…What Now?

Are there any ways that you can remove the curse of bad luck from walking under a ladder? Thankfully there are. To remove the bad luck, you can perform one of the following: Spit through the rungs three times. Spitting has been a way of warding off evil for centuries and the number 3 corresponds to the holy trinity, so you may bring yourself back into God's graces if you try this method of counteracting the bad luck. Another method closely connected with the Christian faith is to keep your fingers crossed until you see a dog. Keeping fingers crossed was literally viewed as asking for God's help by making the sign of the holy cross with your hand, but the importance of the dog is a little more circumspect. Dogs are often portents of death and bad luck, rather than bringing anything positive, so it may be that the bad luck brought on by the dog was able to counteract that brought on by walking under the ladder and incurring God's wrath. Finally, you have the option to walk back out from under the ladder the way you came in, making a wish as you do so. This has the effect of 'closing' the break in the triangle, and giving you the opportunity to pray to God in the hope that He will ignore your misdemeanour and not assume that you are in league with his arch enemy. It might not help you against any overzealous witch hunters that happened to witness your carelessness however: historically, your best bet was very much to avoid walking anywhere near ladders at all.

It All Comes Back To Ladders and Safety

Aside from the risk of curses and bad luck, walking under a ladder can result in an unpleasant injury, so it is important when working around ladders to follow a basic set of safety rules. The Health and Safety Executive, a government department, has produced a pamphlet for employers on the safe use of ladders and stepladders which contains some helpful advice. In order to prevent injury to both the user and any passerby, it is recommended that the user should not climb the ladder whilst carrying anything heavy and should not overreach whilst working with any equipment. This helps to prevent both a fall and dropping anything on unsuspecting work colleagues or members of the public. Equally important however, are the recommended checks that should be made when purchasing a ladder and any stability devices. It is important to buy a ladder that will be safe on the worst type of surface that the user may have to work on, for example, slippery cobbles or wet floor tiles. Midland Ladders provides an excellent safety guide for its products, covering domestic ladders, EN131 trade ladders, and class 1 industrial ladders, allowing our customers to make an educated choice on which ladder will meet the requirements of their job and job environment. A detailed risk assessment will assist greatly in this, as it allows identification and recording of potential hazards, thereby ensuring that the correct ladder that will provide the highest level of safety is bought. There are also a number of stability devices that can be used with a ladder, such as the stand off bracket. This notched aluminium bracket clips onto most ladders and provides the ladder with extra grip on a vertical surface. Sturdy wide rubber pads rest against the wall and reduce the chance of the ladder slipping and the design and shape of the bracket allows the user to safely rest against angular surfaces such as the corners of walls. Another example is the Basemate professional ladder leveller. This accessory bolts permanently onto the bottom of any ladder, and provides a wide stance that increases ladder stability on uneven ground. It employs two locking levers that are operated by the user's feet, and this automatically adjusts the base mate to any slope or step. It also sports swivelling feet that are covered in ice grip rubber, so that you can use your ladder safely even in the most treacherous of weather conditions. Anyone can suffer bad luck from walking under a ladder, but the chances are that this bad luck would be the result of poor ladder safety rather than divine intervention. When working with or around ladders or even if you are simply walking down the street past a building site, make sure that you stay aware of what is happening around you and follow the safety guidelines set out by the Health and Safety Executive. It's a lot more likely to ensure you stay safe as opposed to crossed fingers!