It's that time of year again when we start thinking about Christmas, decorating the house, moving furniture around to make room for the tree, organizing accommodation for guests and generally looking forward to it all being over!  During this period, a good ladder, or set of ladders will be your best friend.

The attic is the first place that will need accessing. Usually, Christmas decorations are stored in the garage, the attic or an under-stairs cupboard.  A fitted loft ladder makes getting decorations down a doddle.  Loft ladders with handrails mean that even carrying bulky or heavy items is quite easy and safe because of the extra stability the handrail offers.  Step ladders can be useful here as those models with a platform at the top provide a place to stand and assess the situation in the attic without having to stand in the cold.  However, step ladders are not ideal for accessing loft spaces so if you are using one as a loft ladder when getting decorations, Christmas trees and ornaments down, it is a good idea to have someone at the bottom of the ladder to pass items to.

The growing trend in the UK for decorating the outside of the house with strings of lights and illuminated ornaments, an idea which has been imported from the USA, sees more and more people spending time up a ladder in the cold and sometimes on poor light, trying to attach lights and plastic snowmen to the roof. When climbing a ladder with objects that are bulky or have trailing wires, extra care needs to be taken to ensure that safety is not compromised.  It is very easy to get wires tangled in the ladder, in your clothes and even in your own limbs, so every precaution you can take makes the task a lot safer.  When putting up long strings of lights, consider keeping them in a large plastic bag to prevent trailing wires.  Any tools should be kept in a tool belt so they are easily reachable, but not in the way.

Ladder related accidents are a very common sight in A&E over the weeks leading up to Christmas, because it's a time of year when many people without proper ladder safety training are using ladders to carry out fiddly work, sometimes in low light, and with tools they are not accustomed to using.  The basics of ladder safety include:

• making sure the ladder extends well over the roof line, so there are hand holds available when you are right at the top
• making sure the feet of the ladder are on level ground, and using a ladder leveler if they are not
• making sure the ground surface is not slippery, and using a ladder stopper if there is any danger that the ladder will move
• having someone else to foot the ladder and to pass materials and tools up to you
• making sure your clothing does not have anything dangling which could get caught in the ladder.  This also goes for anything you are carrying which could get caught in the ladder
• carrying tools and fixings in a tool belt or pouch rather than holding them while you climb the ladder, or putting them in a too-small pocket where they can fall out
• ensuring the ladder is placed at the right angle to the wall, and is extended properly and locked into position
• using the correct type of ladder for the job.  Borrow one from a neighbour if you need a different type of ladder at the last minute
• wearing shoes with good grip; rungs can become slippery in cold and wet weather
• using a wooden or fiberglass ladder if there are electrical cables anywhere near where you are working, to eliminate the possibility of serious electric shock
• carrying out work only in good light and good weather; Christmas decorations are not essential work and can always wait until there is a good clear day.

A ladder can also be a useful tool when decorating the tree.  Depending on the size of the Christmas tree a ladder may not be needed, but even with a medium height tree there is definitely a benefit to having a set of kitchen steps or a small step ladder to make hanging lights around the top easier, and less of a stretch, as well as for putting the angel or star on top.  The huge Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square requires a cherry picker to put the star on the top, so when you are decorating your own tree you can be thankful it's not going to be as big a job as the Trafalgar Square tree!  Although orchard ladders are designed for accessing trees, they are not suitable for Christmas trees.  Fir trees are a different shape to apple and other fruit trees, and the orchard ladder needs to be on soft ground to maximize its stability; they do not work well indoors.  When using a ladder around a Christmas tree, remember to keep moving the ladder as you need to, rather than over stretching to reach different branches.  Over stretching can end up in pulled muscles and sprains, as well as knocking the ladder off balance and into the tree and there's nothing like an injury to ruin Christmas, on top of a squashed tree and broken baubles.

A ladder is also very useful in other situations over the Christmas period.  Kitchen steps are useful as a spare seat around the table if unexpected guests turn up and you've run out of chairs.  Similarly, if you need extra space for drinks near the table, kitchen steps with a wide platform at the top are a good makeshift drinks stand.  Taller step ladders can be used as a present stand if floor space is at a premium, and as a bedside table for overnight guests.  It can also be used as an extra towel rail if you have many people using one bathroom.  If you have the ladder out anyway, for getting decorations from the loft and from putting them up, using the ladder for something else during the festivities means you don't have to put the ladder away.  A nice wooden ladder could make a modern alternative Christmas tree, with fairy lights and decorations twisted round the rungs.

Ladders are also a good Christmas present, especially for new homeowners or tradespeople. There are also lots of ladder accessories at cheaper price points, so you don't have to splash out on a new ladder when something simple like locking ladder clamps, leg levellers or a stand off might make all the difference to an existing ladder set up.

For new homeowners, a step ladder is a really good first ladder to have.  These are very useful for interior decorating, and this is the area most new occupants will focus on first.  The step ladder will also come in very handy for cleaning the kitchen cupboards before moving things in.  A step ladder can be used for any outdoor job that is carried out at a fixed height, but for jobs working on the guttering, or for cleaning first floor windows an extension ladder is better.  Perhaps the whole family could club together for a step ladder and extension ladder for a new couple, or even a combination ladder.  If the couple's house does not have a fitted loft ladder maybe the family could club together to pay for one to be put in.  It will add to the value of the house and help the new couple enormously when they're packing away all the boxes and items they don't need straight away.

When buying ladders for tradespeople, it is always a good idea to ask whether they need a new ladder and what the specifications are, because there are some legal safety standards for ladders used in the workplace which only certain types of ladder conform to; occasional use DIY ladders are not suitable for use on construction sites or for daily, regular use.  Ladder accessories will always come in handy, but try to find out sneakily whether they already have clamps, leg levelers, safety feet and the myriad of other accessories before buying them.  A good way of finding out what might be needed is to start a conversation about ladder safety, perhaps by asking what the best way is to put Christmas lights up on the house.  You never know, they may offer to do it for you!