We take our ladders and their use for granted everyday.
Roofers and ladders are a lot like beer and chips: They just seem to be found in the same places. There have been minor improvements on ladder design, but not much has changed in the last hundred years. Herein lies the problem. We take our ladders and their use for granted everyday. According to the National Safety Council, at home or work, ladder accidents lead to 300 deaths and 130,000 injuries every year. Yet it seems that most of us are born knowing all we need to know about our ladders. Just ask us if we think we need a ladder safety course and you’ll get some pretty curious looks and colorful responses.
The OSHA Construction Standard Subpart X (1926.1053) specifically covers the regulations for ladders. It calls for employer-provided training for every employee who may potentially use a ladder in his or her job. I’ve worked in the construction industry over 35 years and as I recall, no employer ever gave me definitive ladder safety training.