Make ladders secure
Four-panel Navy Department safety sheet headed 'Make ladders secure': a worker ties a ladder to a tree, ladder shoes for non-slipping, a worker holding a ladder between barriers with DANGER signs, and a ladder nailed in place on a construction job. The technique is faint here; the sheet is instructional, giving four steps and a 75 degree rule with no appeal beyond the safety advice.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Navy Department (Navy Department Safety Poster)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Home front, Labor
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. Navy Department (Navy Department Safety Poster). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1319 (NAID 514957).
Text on the object
MAKE LADDERS SECURE TIE TO ALL UNSTABLE SUPPORTS INSTALL PROPER SHOES FOR NON-SLIPPING DANGER MEN WORKING ABOVE DANGER MEN WORKING ABOVE BLOCK OFF TRAFFIC & HAVE LADDER HELD NAIL IN PLACE ON CONSTRUCTION JOBS Set them at about 75° from horizontal NAVY DEPARTMENT SAFETY POSTER [imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944-O-585733 [pencil annotation:] Classify - safety / navy safety
The second DANGER sign is partly cut off by the panel edge ('DAN / MEN WO / ABOV').
