Midland Ladder Company Limited

Award Winning Stylish Single-Step Ladder

wendy Rudd October 14, 2021 0

Here at Midland Ladders our main business is providing a range of specialised and general use ladders to the trade, professional users and serious DIYers. We also stock a range of smaller ladders for domestic use – for those jobs that need a bit of extra height but for which a huge ladder isn't needed. When it comes to step stools for the home, you're spoilt for choice when you look at the wider market, which is why we tend to stock models from the same manufacturers that make the sturdy equipment found in factories and on building sites – we think safety and function is a more important consideration than form. With that said, we're always keen to see how furniture designers are revolutionising the domestic step stool and ladder market; we know that for people with smaller homes (where ...

Werner Makes Short Work Of Tall Jobs

wendy Rudd October 07, 2021 0

Lone working is sometimes unavoidable, and while it's always better to have another pair of hands on the job to help with carrying and setting up equipment, there are times when it's just you and your ladder. Professional ladder users will be acutely aware of the proper safety precautions to take when setting up and using a ladder, especially if they're alone without someone to call for help if they have an accident. These users are also very mindful of the injuries and muscle strains that can arise before you've even set one foot on the rungs. Tall, heavy extension ladders can cause muscle and soft tissue injuries from simply carrying and setting them up; especially when you consider that a standard Werner 4.9 metre professional extension ladder weighs in at just over 23 kilos. Carryin...

Before You Put Your Ladder Away...

wendy Rudd September 30, 2021 0

With summer over and the nights starting to draw in again many of us will be putting our domestic ladders away for the winter. Whether that's a garden ladder, a step ladder for outside jobs or an extension ladder for tall tasks, it's important to store our ladders properly so that they're ready for service when we need them again. You may have cleared out the gutters ahead of the autumn leaf fall; perhaps even installing a gutter hedgehog to prevent guttering getting blocked up, and this is a job that can be quite mucky. After a dirty job like this it's important to clean your ladder thoroughly, because if algae and leaves are left on the rungs or stiles this can grow into a slippery slime over the winter, making the ladder very dangerous to use. Wipe down the ladder with a clean cloth ...

The Aftermath Of Ladder Accidents

wendy Rudd September 23, 2021 0

Accidents involving ladders are quite commonplace, more so in the domestic and DIY arena than the professional one, although it seems that no amount of training will stop some people misusing their height access equipment. A roofer in Kentucky fell nearly 10 feet from a ladder, landing on his head and neck in what would turn out to be a fatal accident. The man had been on site for less than an hour when the accident, which involved a co-worker, occurred. The pair had been setting up two ladders on either side of the front porch of the property to take measurements. As the man descended the second ladder, having communicated the measurements to his colleagues on the ground, the angle of the porch roof on the ladder apparently caused the ladder to kick out at the base, injuring the...

Developers To Pay For High-Rise Aerial Ladder

wendy Rudd September 16, 2021 0

A fire at the New Providence Wharf tower block on the 7th of May this year could have been a disaster. Not only does the building have the same cladding as Grenfell Tower, the balconies are made of wood and the ventilation system was faulty, leading to a broken chimney-like effect as the fire climbed up balconies from the 8th to 11th floor, and smoke poured through the central stairwell from a flat door which was left propped open. A perfect storm of circumstance, faulty systems and a lack of appropriate equipment at nearby fire stations led to this event, but it could have been a lot worse. There are no tall aerial ladders in the east end, specifically in the Isle of Dogs, where many of London's skyscrapers stand, an oversight which meant one had to be brought in from Old Kent Road to t...

Combination Or Multi-Purpose Ladder?

wendy Rudd September 09, 2021 0

On paper, a combination ladder and a multi-purpose ladder seem to be saying the same thing – that you can use these ladders in multiple positions. On the face of it, that is the case and in fact both types of ladder can be used as a stepladder (including on the stairs) or as a straight extension ladder. It is when we look at the other uses of each type of ladder, and what they are most suited to that it becomes a little more nuanced. A multi-purpose ladder typically has three hinges along the length of the ladder. These hinges allow the ladder to be folded at the central hinge to make it into a step ladder, folded at both outer hinges to make a platform base, or not hinged at all to function as a straight ladder. To make a multi-purpose ladder into a stair ladder, the central hinge nee...

Avoid These Common DIY Mistakes

wendy Rudd September 02, 2021 0

The DIY (home and garden) industry in the UK is worth nearly £7 billion, with many homeowners cutting the cost of home improvements by doing the work themselves. Over the 2020 lockdowns, DIY became a really popular pastime, especially for people who had planned contractors to work on their home but then had to cancel their plans because of the restrictions. Happily, most DIY projects happen without accident or injury, but over 200,000 people a year require hospital treatment for injuries sustained while carrying out DIY projects. Around 70 people a year are killed in DIY related accidents, with ladders being the main cause of these fatalities. It's impossible to engineer out every risk from every job, but with some care and attention you can avoid the most common DIY mistakes that lead...

Safe Ladder Transportation

wendy Rudd August 26, 2021 0

There are far too many reports of ladders causing accidents on roads. Barely a week goes by without some report of a ladder falling off a truck and causing an accident behind it, or reports of a ladder being carried alongside a car by two passengers with their arms out of the window. Officers from the Central Motorway Police stopped a vehicle on the M6 recently, as the ladder it was carrying protruded from the front and the rear of the vehicle, and was visibly slipping out of its fixings. The sectional roofing ladder had been secured with a bungee cord around the sections sticking out of the rear, but as it was also resting on, and protruding over the cab roof it could easily have come loose and several sections could have slid off. The images of the vehicle and ladders appears to show ...

When To Upgrade And When To Invest

wendy Rudd August 19, 2021 0

There's no set timeframe for replacing your ladders; some can last for over a decade if they're well looked after and stored properly while others, subject to damage and improper storage, may fail much sooner. This means that you need to keep a careful eye on your ladders and look out for the signs that they need replacing. When it comes to investing in new ladders, things are a little simpler. You may find that your existing set of ladders isn't up to some jobs, this could possibly be because of height, or it could be the case that customers are asking for more specialised jobs and these are jobs that require different specification than your usual equipment. You may also be planning to grow your business, or increase the amount of DIY you do around the home, and this often means inve...

They Thought It Was All Over...

wendy Rudd August 12, 2021 0

It's been a mixed year for British football, with England getting to the final of the Euros before missing out on penalties (a familiar occurrence) and the phased return of fans to live matches. As the national sport, it's easy to see why die-hard fans will go to any lengths to watch their team play, and none have taken this further than the Linfield Ladder Loyal; a group of Linfield supporters who took to scaling new heights to see their side play while fans were banned from football grounds. The group have used all manner of ladders, and even a portaloo, to gain enough height to see over the wall of the ground to glimpse the on-pitch action, and have vowed to continue watching matches this way if the ban on fans returns at any point. The leader of the LLL, Ivan Ogborn, first attended ...