Celebrate Ladder Safety Month This March
Ladder injuries are largely preventable, yet more than 700 ladder injuries occur every day. By taking the time to learn ladder safety essentials—like earning the American Ladder Institute’s (ALI) no cost Ladder Safety Training certificate and participating in National Ladder Safety Month—company owners and employees will know the crucial components to staying safe on the job.
Providing your organization the ladder safety training they need—and requiring it—sends a strong message that you truly care about the well-being of your employees. Here’s how ALI can be your partner in keeping your workforce safe.
Understand the Risk: Ladders and Injury
Ladder injuries can lead to an array of problems for you and your employees.
On the most serious end of the spectrum, ladder injuries can be fatal—in fact, more than 100 people lose their life as a result of a ladder accident each year. For thousands of others, ladder-related trauma saddles them with chronic pain or debilitating injuries that diminish their quality of life.
What Happens When an Employee Gets Hurt?
It’s a company owner’s worst nightmare: One of your employees gets hurt—or even killed—from falling off a ladder while on the job.
How will this affect the rest of my team? What is my liability? How can I help prevent these accidents from happening again? These are important questions every company owner must consider.
A key question is whether a company owner is liable if an employee gets hurt. Each specific case is unique, but if you provide defective equipment that is found to be directly responsible for the accident, you may be financially liable. This could cripple a small business.
In addition, if one of your employees experiences a ladder injury it may impact team morale and the overall culture of the company. When those two things suffer, it can have long-term ramifications. Employees may leave, and your reputation may be questioned—both by industry insiders and consumers.
Company owners want to ensure their employees are safe at work, so preventing ladder accidents is essential. One way to do that is to mandate all employees earn their Ladder Safety Certificate through ALI’s Ladder Safety Training program.
Certification: Proactively Avoiding a Worst‐Case Scenario
If you want to ensure your employees have the education and confidence to safely use a ladder, certification can help. ALI offers a free online certification program called the Ladder Safety Training that details safe ladder usage across a variety of industries and applications, including construction and painting more specifically.
In addition to teaching employees how to safely use all ladders (stepladders, single and extension ladders, articulated ladders, mobile ladders, etc.), the training also explains how to properly select and care for a ladder.
ALI’s Ladder Safety Training is a no cost training program. Employees who complete the training will receive a certificate of completion.
Although the Ladder Safety Training is not a financial investment for your organization, it is a significant investment in the safety and wellbeing of your workforce. Making the training mandatory for all employees ensures that you have companywide knowledge on ladder safety standards. When employees are informed and aware of the risks, you’ll see a decline in the number of ladder-related accidents associated with your organization.
How National Ladder Safety Month Can Reduce Ladder Injuries
Understanding the risk ladders pose and learning how to safely use them are the first steps toward reducing the number of associated injuries and fatalities. In addition to offering its Ladder Safety Training, ALI is proud to host its third annual National Ladder Safety Month in March 2019.
National Ladder Safety Month aims to inspire professionals, as well as homeowners, to educate themselves on ladder safety and reduce their risk of injury. Throughout the month, ALI puts a special emphasis on the different aspects of ladder safety, from ladder safety at work and at home to ladder inspection and disposal.
Participants can take advantage of free resources at www.laddersafetymonth.com to build awareness and share with employees. Resources include ladder safety training videos, safety posters, infographics and videos that show the top five misuses of ladders and tips for how to stay safe.
Already this year, more than 130 ladderrelated accidents have occurred. But together, that number can drop to zero. By appreciating the risks ladders pose and learning how to avoid them through ALI ladder safety training, you and your workforce can make these preventable injuries a thing of the past.APC
For more information, contact ALI Headquarters at [email protected] or (312) 321-6806.
