Ep. 592 National Ladder Safety Month 2026

March is National Ladder Safety Month, and 2026 marks a decade of the American Ladder Institute’s (or ALI’s) efforts to increase awareness and education in the workplace. Rancho Mesa’s Alyssa Burley and Client Technology Specialist, Brenda Colby discuss National Ladder Safety Month and ALI’s impact.

Show Notes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to Rancho Mesa's Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠, American Ladder Institute (ALI)

Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Megan Lockhart

Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Brenda Colby

Editor: Jadyn Brandt

Music: "Home" by JHS Pedals, “Breaking News Intro” by nem0production

© Copyright 2026. Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

Transcript

Alyssa Burley: You’re listening to Rancho Mesa’s StudioOne™ podcast, where each week we break down complex insurance and safety topics to help your business thrive.  I’m your host, Alyssa Burley, and I’m joined by Brenda Colby, Client Technology Specialist with Rancho Mesa, and we’re going to talk about National Ladder Safety Month.

Brenda, welcome to the show.

Brenda Colby: Happy to be here Alyssa.

AB: March is National Ladder Safety Month, and 2026 marks a decade of the American Ladder Institute’s efforts to increase awareness and education in the workplace.

So Brenda, tell our listeners about how ALI is working to keep employees safe in the workplace?

BC: Well, ALI has chosen four areas of focus for 2026. Which include:

• Training and Awareness

• Inspection and Maintenance

• Stabilization, Setup, and Accessories

• and Safe Climbing and Positioning

And weekly free webinars are available all month long on the National Ladder Safety Month website covering basic safety principles and common causes of ladder injuries on the jobsite. Plus, a list of other ways to promote ladder safety is available on the National Ladder Safety Month website as well, from a social media campaign to opportunities for ladder safety certifications. And we’ll put a link to their website in the episode notes.

AB: Alright, so there are a lot of resources and ways to participate in the campaign on the ALI website, available all year long.

Brenda, we’ve previously spoken multiple times about ladder safety at a worksite, but will you share some of the data that reinforces why it’s so important for employers to prioritize ladder safety?

BC: Yeah absolutely. So, we know ladder and fall safety violations are consistently some of the most common causes of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (or OSHA) citations. And nearly 3,000 ladder safety citations were issued by OSHA in 2024 and they can cost employers thousands of dollars. And in the worst case scenarios, ladder safety violations can be fatal. Just last week, we did a podcast episode about fatal injury data and falls were one of the leading causes of worker deaths, so properly training your employees on ladder safety can make a big difference.

AB: And, safety is of course important to avoid fines or citations, but more than that, it’s about making sure employees can get home safe at the end of the work day. So, what resources are available through Rancho Mesa that can help employers stay up-to-date with ladder safety training?

BC:  Well we have plenty of ladder safety resources available for our clients through our SafetyOne™ platform, and those include: Ladder Safety online training, Ladder Safety Toolbox Talks, and ladder observation forms to document inspections.

AB: Yeah and those are all really great, easy to use resources.

Well Brenda, if listeners have questions about accessing those resources through our SafetyOne platform, what’s the best way to get in touch with you?

BC: As always, clients can contact me at bcolby@ranchomesa.com or call me directly at (619) 486-6562.

AB: Brenda, thank you for joining me in StudioOne.

BC: Thanks for having me.

AB: Thanks for tuning in to our latest episode produced by StudioOne. If you enjoyed what you heard, please share this episode and subscribe. For more insights like this, visit us at ranchomesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.