Around 20% of all work-related fall injuries involve ladders, making falls from ladders a relatively common occurrence for warehouse workers, particularly when reaching high shelves or performing maintenance tasks that require ladder use.
So the recent findings from a survey, 2024 Ladder Safety Training and Citations Survey, from the American Ladder Institute, was welcome news. The survey revealed that that from 2020 to 2024 there was 21% decrease in ladder related accidents that resulted in loss of life or serious injury.
The survey also showed that less than a quarter of the respondents experienced ladder-related accidents/incidents. Data was unchanged from 2016 to 2018 and 2020 to 2024.
Over the last two years the most common ladder-related accidents or incidents were the ladder being set up incorrectly, followed by using the wrong ladder for the job (too long, too short, wrong material, wrong application).
Additionally, 4 out of 10 survey respondents indicated that the quantity of ladder-related accidents/ incidents at their organizations has stayed approximately the same over the last five years. Nearly one third of respondents saw a decrease in the number of ladder-related accidents.
With regard to OSHA, 7 out of 10 respondents have not received any ladder-related citations/violations from OSHA in the past 12 months. Companies with zero citations have increased by 2% since 2020.
And from 2020 to 2024, the percentage of organizations who believe human error is a cause to the continued OSHA citations increased from 61% to 63%.
More than half of the respondents feel that the accident/incidents could have been avoided with the proper training.
Safety Training Findings
The survey found that nearly all organizations (98%) use a form of ladder safety training. The year-over-year comparison shows an increase in the number of organizations paying for safety training (35%, up from 28% in 2020). However, year-over-year comparison shows an increase in the number of organizations paying for safety training. In 2020, 28% of organizations were paying for ladder safety training.
In 2024, 64% of respondents said a training refresh was required annually, compared to 62% in 2020 and 58% in 2018.
In 2024, 4% of respondents said only new employees were required to take ladder safety training, compared to 8% in 2020 and 13.5% in 2018.
In-person (classroom or on the job site) and video/online ladder safety training are the top two formats of ladder safety training. Participants could select more than one option.
