New research commissioned by the Ladder Association has raised serious concerns that unsafe and potentially dangerous telescopic ladders are being sold to unsuspecting consumers in the UK.
The market surveillance study, in partnership with East of England Trading Standards Association (EETSA) and Suffolk Trading Standards Imports Team, put 17 telescopic ladders through their paces in a series of safety critical tests at the UKAS accredited not-for-profit UK testing facility, Test & Research Centre.
The test ladders were obtained anonymously from a range of sources including online stores, marketplaces, physical stores and included some ladders detained at port by Trading Standards, to provide a fair and representative sample of the market.
The telescopic ladders were subject to key strength tests and dimensional checks, to check their conformity to product standard EN 131-6. This is the standard to which all telescopic ladders should be made and demonstrates quality and safety.
The results…
82% of the telescopic ladders tested failed the required EN 131-6 safety tests, were non-compliant, and in the majority of cases, were unsafe to use!
These ladders – including some from our best-loved retailers – failed to meet the minimum safety requirements designed to keep users safe.
Worse still, over half of the failed ladders were marked and sold as EN 131 ‘compliant’ in a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.
To read the full report.