Ladders practice questions for the ASP exam
ASP11 Domain 2: Safety Programs and Concepts (2.8.c Slips, trips, and falls). 3 free questions below. Every answer quotes and links the regulation paragraph it rests on.
- 29 CFR 1926.1053: Ladders. · how this section is tested
Text pulled from the eCFR, current as of 2026-10-14.
A crew uses a 24-foot non-self-supporting portable ladder, leaning it against a wall at a point where the working length (foot to top support) is 20 feet. The supervisor wants the ladder set at the correct angle. Approximately how far from the wall, measured horizontally, should the foot of the ladder be placed?
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Answer: A. 5 feet
The horizontal distance from the top support to the foot should be approximately one-quarter of the working length; one-quarter of 20 feet is 5 feet. One-eighth (2.5 feet) applies only to wood job-made ladders with spliced side rails.
“Non-self-supporting ladders shall be used at an angle such that the horizontal distance from the top support to the foot of the ladder is approximately one-quarter of the working length of the ladder (the distance along the ladder between the foot and the top support).”
A painter must place a ladder in a doorway where employees and carts regularly pass. The painter cannot secure the ladder to anything. Which action complies with the standard?
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Answer: A. Place a barricade to keep activities and traffic away from the ladder
A ladder where it can be displaced by activities or traffic, such as in a doorway, must be secured against displacement or a barricade must keep traffic away. The other choices do not meet either of those alternatives.
“Ladders placed in any location where they can be displaced by workplace activities or traffic, such as in passageways, doorways, or driveways, shall be secured to prevent accidental displacement, or a barricade shall be used to keep the activities or traffic away from the ladder.”
A crew needs to reach a roof edge. The longest portable ladder on site, set at a proper angle, has side rails that extend only about 18 inches above the roof surface. The foreman proposes to use it anyway. Which action would comply with the standard?
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Answer: D. Secure the ladder at its top to a rigid support that will not deflect, and provide a grabrail or similar grasping device for mounting and dismounting.
Because the ladder is too short to extend the rails 3 feet above the landing, the standard requires both a top attachment to a rigid support that will not deflect and a grasping device. Securing to a flexing pipe fails the rigidity requirement, and omitting the grasping device leaves out a required element. A coworker holding the base does not substitute for either.
“When portable ladders are used for access to an upper landing surface, the ladder side rails shall extend at least 3 feet (.9 m) above the upper landing surface to which the ladder is used to gain access; or, when such an extension is not possible because of the ladder's length, then the ladder shall be secured at its top to a rigid support that will not deflect, and a grasping device, such as a grabrail, shall be provided to assist employees in mounting and dismounting the ladder.”
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Original practice questions, not real exam items. PassCited is not affiliated with or endorsed by BCSP.