Step up your approach to ladder safety

The American Ladder Institute (ALI) established March as National Ladder Safety Month seven years ago, as accidents involving ladders happen at worksites every day.

The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data shows that ladders were the primary source of 161 fatal work injuries in 2020. Additionally, a ladder was the primary source of 22,710 injuries that year.

By occupational group, BLS says “construction and extraction” had the second-most nonfatal injuries in 2020 with 5,370. Only “installation, maintenance and repair” (5,790) had more nonfatal injuries.

Ladder accidents aren’t anything new, of course, but the rate at which accidents happen isn’t getting much better.

Data analysis

A look at the last five years of available BLS data reveals that the average number of fatal work injuries per year is 163.2 – a figure that’s on par with the single-year mark for 2020. That accidents keep happening is a reason why ALI regularly promotes ladder safety.

Founded in 1947, ALI is a not-for-profit trade association dedicated to promoting safe ladder use through ladder safety resources, safety training and the development of American National Standards Institute ladder safety standards.

The goals of ALI’s National Ladder Safety Month this March are to decrease the number of ladder-related fatalities and injuries, increase the number of ladder safety training certificates it issues, and lower the rankings of ladder-related safety citations on the Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s annual list of top 10 citations.

ALI also aims to increase the number of in-person ladder trainings and increase the number of companies and individuals who inspect and properly dispose of old or damaged ladders.

To learn more about ALI’s ladder safety training program, visit laddersafetytraining.org.

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