UNSAFE LADDERS ARE STILL ON SALE IN UK, RESEARCH FINDS

[UNSAFE AND POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS ladders continue to be sold online to unsuspecting consumers in the UK, according to a new safety report from the Ladder Association.

The latest report is a follow on from the telescopic ladder market surveillance report undertaken by the Ladder Association last year, which found that over 80% of commercially-available telescopic ladders tested failed to meet the minimum safety requirements designed to keep users safe. Worse still, the research found over half of the failed ladders were marked and sold as ‘compliant’ in a deliberate attempt to mislead consumers.

Despite on-going campaigning, no action has been taken to improve the problem. In a bid to see if the retailers have addressed the issue, the Ladder Association re-tested a proportion of the same products from last year’s study, bought from some of the world’s best-known online retailers.

Following identical testing procedures, every set of telescopic ladders failed the required safety tests, meaning they are non-compliant and dangerous, and proving that the earlier failures were not ‘one-offs’. The latest study also