Ladder Safety

If “Ladder Safety” seems like a strange topic for a teaching blog, I must say that I concur. Several years ago, my school district began providing some required inservice training through an online video format. Topics included important subjects like mandated reporting of abuse, blood borne pathogens, and harassment in the workplace.

In the Fall of 2018, teachers in my school received an email telling us that another required training had been posted. When I clicked the link, I almost fell out of my chair. The training was on “Ladder Safety”. Now, I know as well as the next person that accidents involving ladders are serious workplace incidents. However, in the classroom, there are significantly more important safety concerns.

I must admit that I benefited from a childhood in which my father showed me how to safely use ladders and just about every other tool imaginable. As a young man I worked for sometime in a part of a meat packing plant where I frequently scaled quite tall ladders, outdoors, many times during a shift.

So, teeth gritted, I ventured forth into the brave new world of online ladder safety training. Twenty six minutes of video. A series of questions about the video. Did you know that you shouldn’t use a metal ladder when working with electricity? I did! Did you know that you shouldn’t use a ladder that is insufficiently load-rated for the combined weight of yourself and any tools you might be carrying up the ladder? I did! And I bet you did as well.

So, here is my certificate; earned by giving up a half hour of my life. I’m happy to say that retirement will prevent me from having to complete any more of these training videos. I’m certain that there is one coming on “Paper cuts”.