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Free Resources for Professional Painters: Ladder Safety and Fall Prevention

2 min read

Painters are exposed to several occupational risk factors for falling. What can you do to minimize the risk? In this article, we list a number of free industry resources that are available to help inform you, train your team and keep safety at the forefront of everyone’s focus while on the job.

RELATED STORY: Play It Safe: How to Lower Your Risk for Jobsite Falls

Safety is good business

While your main business goal may always be growth, your company can’t grow without first ensuring the safety of its people – and it only takes one incident to inflict a lot of damage to your company’s morale, reputation and bottom line. Armed with the right information, tools and training, you and your team will be better positioned to approach every job with safe working standards and your business will be better positioned to thrive.

Before the job starts

  • ALI Online Ladder Safety Training: An online tool to offer training in the proper selection, care and safe use of stepladders, single and extension ladders.
  • Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) Safety Climate Workbook : A series of worksheets to help businesses self-assess their safety culture and take steps to improve it, from communication to employee empowerment.
  • CPWR Webinar: A 25-minute guided safety self-assessment video, presented by Dr. Linda Goldenhar, Research and Evaluation Director at CPWR.

On the job

  • NIOSH Ladder Safety App: A smartphone app that includes an angle-measuring tool to help you set an extension ladder at the proper angle; tips to plan your job and select the right size and type of ladder for your job while considering time, materials, and tools required; a checklist for ladder mechanical inspection; and more.
  • CPWR Toolbox Talks: A collection of toolbox talks to offer during lunch breaks, including multiple topics on fall prevention. New topics are added on an ongoing basis.

Ongoing reference

  • NIOSH Fall Prevention Fact Sheet: A safety checklist with accompanying illustrations with best practices for working on roofs, ladders and scaffolding.
  • OSHA Ladder Booklet: Short-form information about how falls from ladders, scaffolds and roofs can be prevented.
  • OSHA Portable Ladder Quick Card: A handy bulleted list of ladder safety do’s and don’ts to keep on hand for your crew.

This is an online extra companion piece to our article Play It Safe: How to Lower Your Risk for Jobsite Falls, originally published in the Fall 2021 issue of PPC magazine. Both articles were written by Diane Walsh, Vice President, Market & Channel Development for Shurtape Technologies, LLC, makers of FrogTape brand painter’s tape. She is a regular contributor to PPC magazine.