Outdoor Advertising

Currently, outdoor advertising employers are required to install fall protection where the length of a climb exceeds 50 feet or the height of the ladder extends more than 65 feet above grade. Qualified climbers can climb billboard fixed ladders over 24 feet without fall protection during the two-year phase-in period. During this period, outdoor advertising employers must ensure that qualified climbers meet certain requirements, as follows:

• Receive training and demonstrate their physical capability to perform climbs
• Wear a body harness equipped with an 18-inch rest lanyard
• Keep both hands free when climbing the fixed ladder
• Use fall protection after reaching the work position

The Final Rule phases out OSHA's 1993 policy that allowed qualified climbers to climb billboard fixed ladders without fall protection. OSHA requires that fixed ladders in outdoor advertising be equipped with fall protection for the following reasons:

• The Final Rule will help eliminate or reduce falls from fixed ladders in the outdoor advertising industry.
• The Final Rule will help to ensure that workers remain tied off when they reach the work platform and begin work.
• The fall hazards on fixed ladders in outdoor advertising are not unique and OSHA believes it is reasonable that those ladders meet the same requirements as all other fixed ladders.
• Advances in technology have made ladder safety and personal fall arrest systems on fixed ladders feasible, effective, and affordable.
• The Final Rule closes OSHA's last safety loophole that allowed workers to climb extended heights on fixed ladders without fall protection.

The Final Rule provides additional compliance time to equip billboard fixed ladders over 24 feet with fall protection. This additional compliance time ensures that the Final Rule is economically feasible and cost-effective for the outdoor advertising industry.

Where billboard fixed ladders already have some type of fall protection, the Final Rule gives outdoor advertising employers up to 20 years to install ladder safety systems or personal fall arrest systems. OSHA estimates that the useful life of outdoor advertising fixed ladders is approximately 20 years. Most outdoor advertising employers will be able to comply with the Final Rule during normal equipment replacement cycles.

Where billboard fixed ladders do not have fall protection, the Final Rule gives outdoor advertising employers 2 years to come into compliance with the existing standard, which eases the economic impacts of the Final Rule and gives employers time to negotiate with manufacturers for the most cost-effective system that satisfies their needs. Although the existing standard requires that fixed ladders over 20 feet be equipped with cages or wells, the Final Rule allows outdoor advertising employers to equip billboard fixed ladders with ladder safety or personal fall arrest systems, which cost less than cages and wells.

To learn more about Walking Working Surfaces visit our Walking Working Surfaces & Personal Fall Protection Systems Online Training web page.