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Ladder Safety eLearning
Online ladder safety training that settles the question people still get wrong: ladders are not banned, but you have to be able to justify using one, and use it properly.
Who it is for
Who this ladder safety course is for
Ladders and stepladders are involved in a large share of falls from height, and most of those falls are from low heights during short jobs. This course is for anyone who picks one up at work.
- Maintenance, facilities and caretaking staff
- Retail and warehouse staff reaching stock
- Cleaning and window cleaning teams
- Electricians, decorators and trades
- Signage, telecoms and installation workers
- Supervisors who authorise ladder use
Course content
What the ladder safety course covers
Six short modules from choosing a ladder over something safer, through pre-use checks, to the three points of contact people quietly abandon.
Ladders and the law
Where ladders sit in the work at height hierarchy, and how to justify choosing one.
Types of ladder
Leaning ladders, stepladders, combination and platform steps, and their class markings.
Pre-use checks
Stiles, rungs, feet and locking mechanisms: what to look at before you climb.
Setting up safely
Angle, footing, ground conditions, securing the ladder and the space around it.
Working from a ladder
Three points of contact, reach limits, carrying tools and what not to do.
Stepladders and common failures
Side-on working, standing on the top step, and the mistakes that cause most falls.
Outcomes
What you will be able to do afterwards
- Judge whether a ladder is the right equipment for the task
- Select the right type and class of ladder
- Carry out a pre-use inspection and reject a defective ladder
- Set a leaning ladder at the correct angle and secure it
- Work from a ladder while maintaining three points of contact
- Recognise the common misuses that cause falls
Your legal duty
The law behind ladder safety training
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 do not ban ladders. They require you to avoid work at height where reasonably practicable, and where it cannot be avoided, to use suitable equipment: with collective protection prioritised over personal. A ladder is suitable for short-duration, low-risk work where the risk assessment supports it.
Ladders are also work equipment, so the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 apply: suitable for the purpose, maintained, inspected, and used only by people who have been adequately trained.
- Work at Height Regulations 2005
- Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER)
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 - sections 2 and 7
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 - risk assessment
Practicalities
How the course works
For employers
Ladder Safety training for a team
Ladder misuse is habitual rather than ignorant, people know and do it anyway. Training a whole team at once is what shifts the norm.
- One invoice instead of a card payment per person
- Licences allocated as people join, so induction is covered
- Completion and expiry reporting for your records
- Renewal reminders before certificates lapse
- Bespoke versions built around your own procedures
Ladder safety sits inside the wider work at height picture. See the Working at Height course →
Ladder Safety eLearning: common questions
No. That myth persists but it is wrong. The Work at Height Regulations require you to choose suitable equipment and justify the choice, ladders remain appropriate for short-duration, low-risk work.
There is no legal figure. HSE guidance treats work of around 30 minutes at one position as a reasonable indicator, but the risk assessment decides, not a stopwatch.
Yes. As work equipment they must be maintained and inspected, and a pre-use check by the user is expected every time. The course covers what to look for.
It is one of the most common causes of falls, and the course explains why side-on working and standing on the top step are the two habits to break first.
About 30 minutes, with no time limit: start it, pause it, and come back whenever suits. The certificate is issued the moment you finish.
Yes. It runs in a browser on any modern phone, tablet or computer, with nothing to install.
Yes. Open a business account and we invoice you for the licences, which you allocate as people need them, with completion reporting included.
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