From Work in Progress, the official Blog of the U.S. Department of Labor:

Last year, OSHA Director of Construction Jim Maddux delivered a presentation on OSHA’s new campaign to prevent fatal falls at the annual conference of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE). When he finished, one of the conference leaders rushed over, eager to introduce Maddux to representatives from another agency with a similar mission of stopping falls in construction: Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower.

Falls are the No. 1 killer in construction in the United States and are a problem in the construction industry worldwide. The Singapore group showed Maddux a number of outreach publications they used to educate workers, employers, supervisors and foremen about how to work safely from heights, including a short English- and Chinese-language pamphlet on ladder safety. Impressed with the bilingual approach, clear illustrations and plain language, Maddux asked the officials if OSHA might adapt and republish the booklet for use in the United States. They graciously agreed.

This July, OSHA published “Falling Off Ladders Can Kill: Use Them Safely,” as an English-Spanish bilingual booklet based on the Singapore model. While creating it, the agency set to work on making it as accessible to as many people as possible.

("Falling Off Ladders" is available as a PDF or in e-book formats: EPUB and MOBI.)

Recent research by the Pew Research Center has found that Americans are increasingly using mobile devices as their primary means of finding information, with increased use of smartphones, tablets and e-readers across all demographics. Young people, Latinos and other vulnerable workers are significantly more likely than other groups to go online for information, including for health and safety resources.

That’s how the ladder booklet became OSHA’s first e-publication. Because it is available in mobile-friendly formats, work crews can...Click here to read the rest of the blog post.