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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Humans use ladders for all sorts of purposes, one being to rescue or reach animals that have become stranded, or alternatively, in the case of angling, to get a good position to cast from.  The Lahontan cutthroat trout is particularly prized among competitive and keen anglers, due to the size and ferocity of the fish.  Once teeming in the waters of the Truckee River, Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake in Nevada, these fish were pushed to the brink of overfishing and now are a rare site when they congregate in these waters.  It was even thought that the fish were extinct in the lake as recently as 1943, but since then [...]

People living in flats don't really need an extension ladder – they won't be clearing guttering or the outside of windows, so there is little point in having a long ladder in a small flat where there isn't the space to store it.  A stepladder, however, is a must-have for everyone, regardless of whether they live in a flat or a three-storey townhouse.  Stepladders are invaluable around the home for reaching tall cupboards, changing light bulbs and redecorating or spring cleaning and they are much safer than using a chair or small table as a substitute.    Stepladders are small and easy to store, even hanging from an over-door hook to [...]

We're big on ladder safety – we want our customers to use the products they buy from us safely and without sustaining any injuries.  Ladders are responsible for almost a third of workplace injuries in the UK, and these are accidents involving people with training and experience in using ladders. The untrained and inexperienced users are much more likely to injure themselves while using a ladder.   The good news is that the majority of ladder related accidents are avoidable and due to user error rather than a fault with the equipment (although this certainly does cause some falls and injuries) and with due care and attention everyone can be safer [...]

When we think about ladders we think about function rather than form.  The purpose of a ladder is to provide access to high up places, so as long as it does the job we're not bothered what it looks like.  Sure, there are many different types of ladder designed for different purposes, but the differences in the construction of the ladder don't have any effect on how it looks – a ladder is a ladder.   People who take a lot of care in their interior decoration may shy away from having a stepladder in the home, as it won't tie in with their aesthetic.  Although most stepladders are lightweight and [...]

Those of us who remember Changing Rooms will be familiar with the trompe-l'oeil technique, an art and design trick that means “trick the eye”.  Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen was a big fan of the technique to create feature walls that looked like windows onto stunning landscapes, but it can also be used to great effect for outdoor murals.  One such trompe-l'oeil mural that has sprung up recently is a man on a ladder in Stourbridge.   The mural, painted on the side of Katie Fitzgerald's pub, features one of the bar owners, Eddy, up a ladder. Trina and Eddy, the owners of the bar, called local artist Dj to discuss having a mural [...]

Finding the best roof ladder can be tricky if you're not a professional builder or roofer with the knowledge and experience that the job brings.  There is a big roof ladder range from DIY suitable roof ladders and roof hook accessories, to professional standard roof ladders intended for regular use in the rough environment of a building site.  The right one for you depends on how much use it is going to get and how much you want to spend – a really long roof ladder could set you back around the same as calling a professional to do the job instead, so it's worth thinking about whether you really need [...]

Transporting ladders is unavoidable – unless you have it delivered to the only place it will ever be used there will be a time when it has to be moved using a vehicle, and for this reason there are ladder racks designed to fit on roof racks for easy and safe transportation.  Not properly securing your ladders on a vehicle can have serious, sometimes fatal consequences – a motorcyclist was badly injured in America last month, when a ladder came off the back of a pick-up truck and struck his bike.  He crashed and was so badly hurt he had to be airlifted to hospital.  Another man was killed while retrieving [...]