Ladder Safety for the Competent Person

Ladder Competent Person, or Ladder Training for the Crew?

29 CFR 1926.1060(a)(1) has each employee trained by a competent person, so somebody has to hold that role before the crew can be trained at all.

• Ladder Safety for the Competent Person. You are on it. Five hours for the person your company designates: ladder types, inspection, taking a defective ladder out of service, stairway requirements and the written ladder safety program.
• Introduction to Stairways & Ladders. One hour for the people who climb. Hazards, length and weight limits, labeling, setup and maintenance across 29 CFR 1926 Subpart X. This is the training your competent person is meant to deliver. View the Introduction to Stairways & Ladders
• Fall Protection for the Competent Person. Four to five hours on the other designation most construction sites carry, under 29 CFR 1926 Subpart M. Different hazard, separate designation, and often the same person holding both. View the Fall Protection for the Competent Person
• Competent Person Series. Eleven competent person courses in one place, from scaffolding and trenching to confined space and electrical. Worth a look when one person carries more than one designation. View the Competent Person Series

Does OSHA Require Ladder Safety Training?

Yes. Every employee who uses a ladder or a stairway in construction has to be trained, and 29 CFR 1926.1060(a)(1) says a competent person is the one who delivers that training.

• The ladder and stairway training duty is the employer's. You provide the program for everyone who uses ladders and stairways, and you make sure a competent person gives it. That second requirement is what this course is built for.
• The paragraph names five areas the training has to cover. They run from fall hazards in the work area to the load a ladder can carry. Module 8 walks your competent person through delivering every one of them.
• One trained person can cover the whole crew. Train one person here and they can run ladder and stairway training on your own site, on your own schedule, as new hires arrive and crews change over.
• The training only counts if it is written down. Module 8 covers what to record after each session: the subject, the type of ladder, the date and who sat through it. That file is your evidence the training happened.

Crews who climb the ladders can take Introduction to Stairways & Ladders. This five-hour course is for the person who inspects those ladders and trains everyone else on them.