The purpose of this standard is to provide reasonable safety for life, limb, and property. In order to develop an effective safety program, the standard may serve also as a basis for purchase requirements and for instructions in personnel training, and in the preparation of motivational/ instructional material such as safety practices, manuals, posters, and the like. This standard is also intended to provide the manufacturer, purchaser, and user of metal ladders with a set of performance and dimensional requirements against which a product may be compared. It is not the purpose of this standard to specify all the details of construction of portable metal ladders. The limitations imposed are for the purpose of providing adequate general requirements and testing methods needed for consistency.