National Ladder Safety Month

March is National Ladder Safety Month, a yearly reminder that something as common as a ladder can quickly become dangerous if it is used incorrectly. Ladders are involved in thousands of workplace and home injuries every year, often because of simple mistakes like improper setup, overreaching, or using the wrong ladder for the job. As a matter of fact, improper ladder use was ranked 3^rd on the Top 10 OSHA violations for 2025.

As projects ramp up in the spring, this month is all about raising awareness, reinforcing best practices, and encouraging everyone to take a few extra minutes to make ladder safety a habit, not an afterthought.

Tips For Ladder Safety

If you follow OSHA’s top ten cited workplace safety standards throughout the years, ladder violations have consistently been in the top 5 since 2020. This is a hard pill to swallow as these violations, and accidents for that matter, can easily be reduced by following simple safety procedures. In fact, OSHA made it really easy as they provided a list of safety tips when using ladders to avoid these violations and potential accidents. Below are a few of those tips that OSHA has shared:

Always inspect the ladder prior to using it. If the ladder is damaged, it must be removed from service and tagged until repaired or discarded.
Always maintain a 3-point (two hands and a foot, or two feet and a hand) contact on the ladder when climbing. Keep your body near the middle of the step and always face the ladder while climbing.
Only use ladders and appropriate accessories (ladder levelers, jacks, or hooks) for their designed purposes.
Ladders must be free of any slippery material on the rungs, steps, or feet.
Do not place a ladder on boxes, barrels, or other unstable bases to obtain additional height.
Do not move or shift a ladder while a person or equipment is on the ladder.
An extension or straight ladder used to access an elevated surface must extend at least 3 feet above the point of support. Do not stand on the three top rungs of a straight, single or extension ladder.
The proper angle for setting up a ladder is to place its base a quarter of the working length of the ladder from the wall or other vertical surface.
A ladder placed in any location where it can be displaced by other work activities must be secured to prevent displacement, or a barricade must be erected to keep traffic away from the ladder.

For the full list of tips, visit the OSHA Education Center website.

Make Ladder Safety a Year-Round Habit

National Ladder Safety Month is a reminder that preventing falls doesn’t require new equipment or complex procedures, just awareness, training, and consistent habits. Taking the time to inspect ladders, choose the right type for the task, and following the basic safety tips above can significantly reduce the risk of injuries on the job and at home. As March wraps up, let ladder safety be something we carry forward year-round, because when it comes to working at height, doing it safely is always worth the extra step. Need help with your Hazard Communication program? Contact us, we would be happy to assist.