The American Ladder Institute has released the results of the 2026 Ladder Safety Training and Citations Survey, which addresses types of ladder-related accidents and injuries; frequency of ladder citations; types of ladder citations; and preferred methods of ladder safety education. The organization surveyed ladder safety training managers and professionals via email in the spring of 2026.
Following are some results from the survey:
- Eighteen percent of respondents had ladder-related accidents in their company within the past two years, which is unchanged from 2024.
- Of those who had an accident at their company, 35% of respondents said it resulted in serious injury or loss of life, which is up from 33% in 2024.
- The most common causes of ladder-related accidents/incidents were overreaching (35%) and failing to maintain three points of contact (35%).
- Eighty-four percent of respondents are aware ladder misuse has consistently ranked among the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s top 10 most frequently cited violations during the past five-plus years compared with 87% in 2024.
- Eighty-two percent of respondents said they have not received any ladder-related citations/violations from OSHA during the past 12 months, which is up 6% compared with 2024.
- Forty-five percent of respondents said the frequency of ladder-related accidents has stayed the same during the past five years, and 16% said they have decreased significantly.
- Forty-seven percent of respondents said they believe the ladder-related accident could have been avoided if the injured person was trained in the safe use, proper selection and/or care of ladders.
- Eighty-eight percent of companies said they use some form of ladder safety training, and 30% are paying for ladder safety training.
- The top two reasons companies believe ladder safety training did not reduce OSHA citations are human error (42%) and insufficient oversight at the job site (33%).
- Seventy-five percent of companies mandate ladder safety training.
- A company’s proprietary programs (59%) and OSHA resources (45%) were the top two resources used for ladder safety training.
- In-person training (in classrooms or on job sites) and video/online training are the top two formats used for ladder safety training.
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