Safety first. It’s baked into any industry where hazards await. Ladders, in particular, pose substantial risk. While there were 161 on-the-job fatalities reported in 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were more than 22,700 ladder-related workplace injuries that same year.

And those statistics have remained fairly static over the last several years. The point is, ladder safety is a serious topic, with a staggering cost to business — and is significantly impactful on families that lose loved ones.

Now in its seventh year, National Ladder Safety Month has been spearheaded by the American Ladder Institute. ALI outlined four key themes this March: 

• 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

ALI believes ladder accidents are preventable with thorough safety planning, training, and continuous innovation in product design. The more people, organizations, and businesses that get involved, the wider the message spreads, and the more people learn about proper ladder safety. 

ALI’s Ladder Safety Training site, laddersafetytraining.org, makes safety training easy with an organized curriculum, a video and resource library, and free registration.

As stated in its release, 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; 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.

Every step matters. From step stools to extension ladders, make sure you’re putting the right foot forward this March.