The American Ladder Institute (ALI) recently announced National Ladder Safety Month, which takes place each March. Now in its seventh year, this year's themes include:
- Week One – Choosing Your Ladder
- Week Two – Safety Before the First Step (Inspection and Set Up)
- Week Three – Safety While Climbing
- Week Four – Safety at the Top
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ladder deaths accounted for 161 on-the-job fatalities in 2020, the most recent year for which statistics are available. That same year, there were 22,710 ladder-related workplace injuries, an injury stat that has remained relatively constant over the previous several years. ALI believes ladder accidents are preventable with thorough safety planning, training, and continuous innovation in product design.
The goals of National Ladder Safety Month are to decrease the number of ladder-related injuries and fatalities, increase the number of ladder safety training certificates issued by ALI, increase the frequency that ladder safety training modules are viewed on https://www.laddersafetytraining.org/, lower the rankings of ladder-related safety citations on OSHA’s yearly “Top 10 Citations List,” increase the number of in-person ladder trainings, and increase the number of companies and individuals that inspect and properly dispose of old or damaged ladders.
For more information and to visit ALI’s ladder safety training site, check out https://www.laddersafetytraining.org/.
