29 CFR 1926.1053 · 21 state plans
Ladders (Construction) across the state plans
A state plan does not have to use the federal number, and it does not have to stop at the federal duty. This page reads 29 CFR 1926.1053 in each state's own rulebook.
Verified vs OSHA sources · 2026-08-09
Of the 21 state-plan rulebooks read here, 9 impose something for 29 CFR 1926.1053 that the federal text does not. The other 12 renumbered the standard without changing what you have to do. That still matters, because an inspector writes the state's number on the citation and a program citing only the federal section is citing a rule that state may have repealed.
Where the duty goes beyond federal
“All portable ladders used in construction shall comply with the provisions of Section 3276 of the General Industry Safety Orders. … Single-rail ladders shall not be used.”
California does not keep a self-contained construction ladder standard. Section 1675 requires ladders wherever stairways, ramps or runways are not provided, then sends portable ladders to §3276 and fixed ladders to §3277 and §3278 in the General Industry Safety Orders, so a ladder citation on a California jobsite often carries a general-industry number, which surprises contractors reading their inspection results. Single-rail ladders are prohibited outright by §1675(d).
Ladders are incorporated federal text at the 2017 edition of Part 1926. Two Hawaii provisions frame them. The construction chapter's scope is written out in the rule (construction work means construction, alteration, demolition or repair including painting and decorating, and work on electric transmission and distribution lines) so a painter on a ladder is inside Part 3. And the daily inspection duty at §12-110-3 applies to the project as a whole, which is the mechanism most likely to catch a damaged ladder before a federal-style competent-person inspection would.
“A manufactured portable metal ladder shall not be used for electrical work or where the ladder or an employee may contact electrical conductors.”
Part 11 is Michigan's own ladder standard: it does not adopt 1926 Subpart X at all. Construction criteria come from ANSI A14.1, A14.2, A14.3 and A14.5 adopted by reference at R 408.41102a. Two rules go beyond the federal text: R 408.41124(6) bans manufactured portable metal ladders outright for electrical work, where 1926.1053(b)(12) only requires non-conductive side rails; and R 408.41124(3) requires a ladder pitched steeper than one horizontal to five vertical to be secured at the top against tipping backward. A ladder citation in Michigan carries an R 408.411xx number, not a 1926 one.
“Employers shall replace fixed and portable ladders with ships ladders whenever possible.”
Minnesota's ladder addition is a preference, stated as a duty: replace fixed and portable ladders with ships ladders wherever it can be done. The specification that follows is detailed and has no federal analogue, a rise between 50 and 60 degrees, treads spaced eight to 12 inches vertically and at least six inches wide by 24 inches long with a skid-resistant surface, handrails on both sides 12 to 14 inches above the stringers with an outside diameter of 1¼ to 1⅝ inches, and handrails continuing to the door where the ladder serves a door entrance. The federal ladder standard still applies underneath; this is what Minnesota expects you to use instead where you can.
Ladders are incorporated federal text in North Carolina: the state's construction amendments touch general provisions, non-ionizing radiation, personal protective and life saving equipment, steel erection and toxic substances, and none reaches Subpart X. What does reach a ladder is the snaphook rule at .0204: a lanyard connected to a ladder safety system here needs a self-closing, self-locking keeper because the requirement sits in Subpart E, not only in the fall arrest criteria. The state's non-ionizing radiation amendment at .0203 is worth a glance for anyone using laser levels: it applies 1926.54 to all direct or reflected laser equipment except unmodified Class I units maintained to the manufacturer's recommendations.
“The Division hereby adopts by reference the Safety Requirements for Steel Erection, ANSI A10.13, 1989 edition, published by the American National Standards Institute … Each contractor on a construction project shall comply with the standards adopted pursuant to subsection 1.”
Nevada layers a consensus standard on top of the federal construction rules: every contractor on a qualifying construction project must comply with ANSI A10.13-1989 for steel erection, adopted by the Division in its own right rather than through 1926 Subpart R. For ladder and access work that matters because the same projects carry the elevator or personnel hoist duty at NAC 618.507: above 60 feet, a ladder is not an acceptable answer to how workers reach the floor.
“Extension ladders shall be equipped with necessary guide irons, locks, and hooks and shall be assembled so that the sliding (upper) section shall be on top of the base (lower) section.”
Oregon takes the federal ladder standard and adds a rule of its own. OAR 437-003-0065 requires extension ladders to carry guide irons, locks and hooks, and to be assembled with the sliding section on top of the base section, an assembly requirement with no counterpart in 1926.1053. Federal training requirements at 1926.1060 still apply, so the addition is exactly that: an addition, not a replacement.
“It shall be the duty and responsibility of any employee upon entering his or her place of employment, to examine carefully such working place and ascertain if the place is safe, if the tools and equipment can be used with safety, and if the work can be performed safely.”
Ladders are incorporated federal text in Utah. What sits above them is unusual: Utah places an express duty on the employee, not only the employer, to examine the workplace and the equipment before starting, to make it safe if they can, and to report it immediately to the foreman or supervisor if they cannot. Federal law puts inspection duties on employers and competent persons. Utah writes the worker's own pre-use check into the code, which is exactly the moment a damaged ladder should come out of service.
“You must prohibit work being done from a ladder more than twenty-five feet above the ground or floor if the work requires wearing eye protection or a respirator.”
Ladders came out of Washington's construction chapter entirely: 296-155-480 and its neighbors were repealed and replaced by chapter 296-876, which covers portable and fixed ladders in every industry. Three duties there have no federal counterpart: the ladder must be secured at the top and bottom whenever work is done from it; work needing both hands above twenty-five feet requires a safety belt with a lanyard secured to the ladder; and work above twenty-five feet is prohibited outright when it calls for eye protection or a respirator. A crew that would be compliant under 1926.1053 can be cited here for the height alone.
Same duty, different number
These plans adopted 29 CFR 1926.1053 without enlarging the obligation. The rule number is still the one that appears on a citation, and in several states the federal section itself has been repealed in favor of the state text.
Ladders sit inside the 1926.31 to 1926.1153 range and are adopted "as amended", so the three-foot extension above the landing, the load ratings and the training duties are the current federal ones. Alaska wrote no ladder rule of its own. The section to notice is the one just outside the adopted range: 1926.30 is not an Alaska standard, and neither is anything from 1926.1 through 1926.9, so a citation here will not reach them.
Ladders are adopted federal text at the February 24, 2021 cut-off: the three-foot extension above the landing, the load ratings and the training duties as they read then. Arizona wrote no ladder rule of its own. It does keep a small number of genuinely state-written standards in the same article, such as the prohibition at R20-5-605 on hoes with handles under four feet for weeding or thinning crops, which shows the pattern: Arizona adopts federal text wholesale and legislates separately only where it has a specific local concern.
Ladders are federal text in Iowa. The state added nothing to Subpart X: no extra securing rule, no state-specific pitch requirement. What changed is the address: since July 9, 2025 the adopting rule is 481—211.1(88), and it applies the federal construction standards for the purposes of Iowa Code chapter 88 and enforcement by the Iowa labor commissioner.
Ladders are federal text in Indiana, with no state amendment. The Act's structure is the thing to understand: standards arrive by incorporation under section 15, section 15.1 provides for other standards, section 16.1 for emergency temporary standards, and section 17.1 sets criteria for standards. Where a state like Oregon or Michigan would put its variation in a numbered rule you can read, Indiana's variation, if any, lives in the statute and in the commissioner's statement of enforceable standards.
Ladders and stairways share one Kentucky regulation, 803 KAR 2:426, which adopts 29 CFR 1926 Subpart X unchanged. The number is new: the regulation took effect July 5, 2022, replacing 803 KAR 2:423, which is now marked inactive. A written program that still cites 2:423 is citing a regulation that no longer applies, even though the underlying federal requirements have not moved.
Ladders are adopted federal text in Maryland. The three-foot extension above the landing, the load ratings and the training duties are all the federal ones, and Maryland did not add a ladder rule of its own. When checking whether a later federal ladder amendment applies here, the answer is in COMAR 09.12.31.01: Maryland adopts named Federal Register notices with individual state effective dates, so a change that is current on osha.gov is in force in Maryland only once it appears on that list.
Ladders are incorporated federal text: New Mexico's construction modifications are three items, and none touches Subpart X. The state's scope provision is broader than some: 11.5.3.2 covers every employee engaged in work for construction, alteration or repair, including painting and decorating, so a painter on a ladder is squarely inside the construction part rather than general industry.
Ladders are federal text in South Carolina: no state modification reaches Subpart X. The rewritten 1926.20(a) is the one to read alongside it: rather than the federal accident prevention responsibilities framing, South Carolina states that no contractor or subcontractor may require a laborer or mechanic employed on the contract to work in surroundings or under working conditions that are unsanitary, hazardous or dangerous. That is the general provision a ladder citation is paired with here.
Ladders are federal text in Tennessee: the three-foot extension above the landing, the load ratings, the training duties. Tennessee added no ladder rule of its own. The definition that opens the chapter is worth reading once, though: construction work here expressly includes erecting new electric transmission and distribution lines and equipment, and altering, converting and improving existing ones, so line work sits under the construction adoption rather than general industry.
Ladders in Virginia run under VR 425-02-79, "Safety Standards for Stairways and Ladders Used in the Construction Industry", effective July 1, 1991 with amendments to 1926.1053 on February 1, 1992 and September 1, 2014. The text is federal-identical, so the three-foot extension above the landing, the load ratings and the training requirements are the ones a contractor already knows. What is worth carrying is the numbering: a VOSH citation reads 16VAC25-175-1926.1053, and the adoption table is where you check whether a later federal amendment has actually reached Virginia.
Ladders are adopted federal text in Vermont: the three-foot extension above the landing, the load ratings and the training duties, all unchanged. Vermont wrote no ladder rule. What a contractor should take from Vermont's structure is that the absence of a state document on a subject is itself the answer: VOSHA lists what it has adopted separately, and ladders are not on that list.
“29 C.F.R. §§ 1926.1050 - 1926.1060 (2016) as it was in effect on June 19, 2018.”
Ladders and stairways share Chapter 24, which carries the whole of Subpart X, 1926.1050 through 1926.1060, at the 2016 edition as in effect June 19, 2018. The three-foot extension above the landing, the load ratings and the training duties are unchanged. Wyoming's construction rules also carry chapters for general provisions and general interpretations, Chapters 1 and 2, each with its own incorporation date, so the sections a citation is paired with are pinned separately from the ladder rule itself.
What this changes on a multi-state job
A written program that names only 29 CFR 1926.1053 is correct under federal jurisdiction and incomplete in a state-plan state. The practical fix is short: carry the state's rule number alongside the federal one in the program, the training record and the toolbox talk, and check the 9 plans above that add a duty before crews mobilize. The federal standard itself is unpacked on the 29 CFR 1926.1053 page, and every state's penalties sit on the penalties-by-state hub.
Ladders (Construction) State Plan FAQ
Which State Plans add to the federal 29 CFR 1926.1053 duty?
9 of the 21 State Plan rulebooks read here: California (8 CCR §1675, which routes portable ladders to §3276 and fixed ladders to §3277-3278), Hawaii (29 CFR 1926.1053 as incorporated by HAR §12-110-50(a), with §12-110-1 and §12-110-3), Michigan (MIOSHA Construction Safety Standard Part 11, R 408.41101 to R 408.41140), Minnesota (Minn. R. 5207.0200 and 5207.0210 (ships ladders)), North Carolina (29 CFR 1926.1053 as incorporated by 13 NCAC 07F .0201), Nevada (NAC 618.503, adopting ANSI A10.13-1989), Oregon (29 CFR 1926.1053 as adopted, plus OAR 437-003-0065), Utah (29 CFR 1926.1053 as incorporated by R614-1-4.A.4, with R614-1-5.C.1) and Washington (WAC 296-876 (use rules at 296-876-40025 and 296-876-40040)). Each imposes something for 29 CFR 1926.1053 that the federal text does not; the quoted state text is above.
What rule number appears on a State Plan citation for 29 CFR 1926.1053?
The state's own. In the 21 plans read here: California (8 CCR §1675, which routes portable ladders to §3276 and fixed ladders to §3277-3278), Hawaii (29 CFR 1926.1053 as incorporated by HAR §12-110-50(a), with §12-110-1 and §12-110-3), Michigan (MIOSHA Construction Safety Standard Part 11, R 408.41101 to R 408.41140), Minnesota (Minn. R. 5207.0200 and 5207.0210 (ships ladders)), North Carolina (29 CFR 1926.1053 as incorporated by 13 NCAC 07F .0201), Nevada (NAC 618.503, adopting ANSI A10.13-1989), Oregon (29 CFR 1926.1053 as adopted, plus OAR 437-003-0065), Utah (29 CFR 1926.1053 as incorporated by R614-1-4.A.4, with R614-1-5.C.1), Washington (WAC 296-876 (use rules at 296-876-40025 and 296-876-40040)), Alaska (29 CFR 1926.1053 as adopted by 8 AAC 61.1010(c)), Arizona (29 CFR 1926.1053 as adopted by A.A.C. R20-5-601), Iowa (29 CFR 1926.1053 as adopted by 481—211.1(88)), Indiana (29 CFR 1926.1053 as applied in Indiana under IC 22-8-1.1-15), Kentucky (803 KAR 2:426 (Subpart X), effective July 5, 2022), Maryland (29 CFR 1926.1053 as adopted by COMAR 09.12.31.01), New Mexico (29 CFR 1926.1053 as incorporated by 11.5.3.9(A) NMAC), South Carolina (29 CFR 1926.1053 as adopted by Subarticle 7), Tennessee (29 CFR 1926.1053 as adopted by 0800-1-6-.02), Virginia (29 CFR 1926.1053 as adopted by 16VAC25-175, VR 425-02-79), Vermont (29 CFR 1926.1053 as adopted by VOSHA) and Wyoming (Wyo. OSHA Construction 1926, Chapter 24 (Subpart X)). Under federal OSHA jurisdiction, the citation names 29 CFR 1926.1053.
Does a State Plan have to copy 29 CFR 1926.1053 word for word?
No. A State Plan's standards must be at least as effective as OSHA's (OSH Act section 18(c)(2), 29 U.S.C. 667(c)(2)), so a state may renumber, reword or go further. Of the 21 plans read here, 12 renumbered 29 CFR 1926.1053 without changing the duty and 9 went further.
What should a multi-state written program say for 29 CFR 1926.1053?
Carry the state's rule number next to 29 CFR 1926.1053 in the program, the training record and the toolbox talk for every State Plan state you work in, and read the state text where the duty goes further (California, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington) before crews mobilize.
When were these state rules checked?
Each state rule on this page was read in the state's own published text, linked under it; the readings run from 2026-04-13 to 2026-08-09. The federal text they are compared against is 29 CFR 1926.1053.
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OSHA does not give advance notice of inspections (29 CFR 1903.6). Get the binder in order before the opening conference, not during it.
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