Exterior maintenance causes injuries out of all proportion to the difficulty of the work, and the pattern is consistent: a short ladder, a job expected to take five minutes, and a reach made rather than a descent. The height involved is usually modest, which is precisely why the care taken is too.
Three habits remove most of the risk, and none of them involves buying anything.
Footing comes before everything
A ladder wants firm, level ground and full contact on both feet. Soft lawn, gravel, a sloping path, a drain cover or a board laid over uneven ground are all common and all unsound; a ladder that is stable when you step on it can sink on one side as you work.
Set the base about a quarter of the working height out from the wall, which is roughly one measure out for four up. Too steep tips backwards and too shallow slides at the base, and the shallow error is the frequent one because it feels safer.
Climb down and move it
Almost every fall from a domestic ladder involves a sideways reach. The rule that prevents it is simple: keep your hips between the stiles, and if the work is beyond that, come down and move the ladder.
That means accepting the job takes longer. Clearing a run of gutter properly is six or seven repositionings, and the temptation to make it three is the actual hazard.
Never against the gutter
Plastic guttering is not a structural member. A ladder top resting on it flexes the run, can crack a joint, and may slip sideways off the curve under load. Use a stand off bracket so the ladder bears on the wall and leaves room to work, or rest against solid masonry.
Have somebody at the base for anything more than a brief look. A second person is worth more than any accessory.
When a tower is the right answer
For work that takes more than a few minutes in one position, anything needing two hands and a tool, or any run of repetitive work along an elevation, a small tower is both safer and quicker. They are straightforward to hire and the time saved repositioning a ladder often covers the cost.
Erect it on level ground, use the outriggers and the brakes, climb inside the frame rather than up the outside, and do not move it with anybody or anything on the platform.
The jobs to hand over
Anything above two storeys, anything over a conservatory, a glass roof, a basement drop or a steep slope, anything requiring you to stand on a pitched roof, and chimney work of any kind. Each of those needs proper access rather than courage, and a competent tradesman will bring it.
Gutter work above a fragile roof is the case most often misjudged, because the ladder position looks ordinary while the consequence of a slip is not.
Weather and timing
Do not work at height in gusting wind, on a wet ladder, in frost, or in the hour before dark. Storm damage feels urgent and almost never is: a tarpaulin and a dry morning beat a wet evening with a torch, and the repair will be better done for the wait.