Cast your mind back to the beginning of 2018: Theresa May was Prime Minister, everyone was falling in love with that man-fish thing from The Shape of Water, and the word 'covid' was still a couple of years from meaning anything at all.
It was around this time that the EN131 ladder regulations were updated and a number of new rules came into force regarding the design and manufacture of portable ladders. You can read our blog about EN131 if you want all the details - for now, there's one specific rule we'd like to focus on:
Leaning ladders, telescopic ladders and hinge-jointed ladders longer than 3 metres must be wider at the base to make them more stable.
- from the Ladder Association's updated EN131 guidance
The easiest way to make a ladder wider at its base is to fit it with a stabiliser bar. When the updated EN131 regulations came into effect, most British ladder manufacturers started fitting all of their ladders with a stabiliser bar as standard.
So a ladder without a stabiliser bar can be a difficult thing to find nowadays - and even if you could find one, it wouldn't necessarily be safe to use. Still, if you're absolutely determined to get your hands on a ladder with no stabiliser bar, you do have a few options...
Falling off a ladder can result in some very serious injuries, so before you put your foot on that first rung, it's important to make sure that the risk of a fall is as low as possible.
For example, if you're planning to use the type of ladder that leans against a wall, you must first ensure that the ladder is properly stabilised.
Need a bit of extra height while working? A ladder isn't always the most practical solution - sometimes, it's both quicker and safer to use a hop-up work platform.
When trying to complete a task or access an item that’s just out of reach, sometimes a ladder isn’t always the best option. Hop-up steps are quick and easy to use, and give you the boost you need to get your task done quickly and efficiently.
There are a variety of different designs when it comes to hop-up steps, so no matter what the task at hand is, there’s a hop up step suited to you and your needs. Hop-up steps are undoubtedly a handy reaching tool, but how do you know which hop-up step is right for you?
If you want to access your attic more easily, installing a loft ladder is a great way to achieve this. A permanent loft ladder saves you the hassle of fetching and setting up a conventional ladder every time you want to go up there - and most loft ladders can be neatly folded away when you're done.
Before you purchase a loft ladder, though, we recommend taking a moment to familiarise yourself with the different types of loft ladder that are available. Here's a quick guide from Ladders UK Direct...
A surgeon from Portsmouth recently stated that he was 'lucky to be alive' after suffering an eighteen-foot fall. Professor Peter Brennan's rubber-footed ladder slipped while he was cleaning his gutters, resulting in what he called the "most terrifying 2 seconds of my life", followed by "lots of injuries and multiple fractures".
As we've discussed previously on this blog, there are several precautions you can take to reduce the risk of ladder slippage - but Prof. Brennan "checked and double checked" to make sure that his ladder was safe, and he endured a nasty fall nonetheless.
This goes to show that, no matter how careful you are, you can never be 100% sure that an accident will not occur. So what should you do if you're standing on a ladder and, in spite of all safety measures, it begins to fall?
