The Ladder Association Celebrates 75 Years of Safety & Innovation

On Wednesday, October 19th, proceedings began at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Stratford-Upon-Avon to commemorate the Ladder Association 75th anniversary. Three of the Ladderstore team were involved in the day; Gail Hounslea , the chair of the Ladder Association, Gareth Monger , member of the training committee and David Potter member of the marketing panel. The first day was for Ladder Association members with meetings to help the organisation move forward and a CPD event in the afternoon. In the evening, the chairman's lunch was followed by a live band and some dancing.?

As this was Gail's first in-person meeting since her appointment as Chair of the Ladder Association in 2019, she gave the opening speech and was congratulated by Peter Bennett OBE on becoming the Ladder Association's first female chair.?

The second day of the conference began on Thursday, October 20th, inviting ladder users and industry experts to share their knowledge and celebrate the ongoing work to increase safety and reduce the number of accidents when working at height. If you weren't able to catch the conference we thought do a quick write up of the day below.

The conference began for non members 10 a.m. with an introductory speech by Peter Bennett OBE, the Association's executive director. Gail Hounslea, Chairman and Host, then took us on a journey through the Ladder Association's 75-year history of innovation.?

Hannah Williams of the No Falls Foundation provided us with additional information, statistics, and figures regarding falls from height and how 29 people were tragically killed last year; in the aftermath of these incidents the message was they could have been avoided. We are proud to support the No Falls Foundation, a charity that assists those who have been affected by falls from great heights.??

Following a short break, Paul Cook from the Health and Safety Executive discussed their collaboration with the Ladder Association and shared some impressive figures on website downloads of industry guidance, which will hopefully result in fewer accidents being reported from working at height in the future. Don Aers then took the stage to discuss the changes to ladder standards, specifically the B2 Dimension, and in true Shakespeare fashion asked 2B or not 2B, that is the question. The B2 dimension went into depth about the dimensions of the stabiliser bar and how this made ladders safer within EN131. ?

The roof ladder standards that are being worked on and developed were one of the top discussion points for the Ladder Association at the conference, alongside telescopic ladder testing. Francis Camilleri of TB Davies presented the preliminary findings of the research, which will aid in the development of a safe standard for roof ladders. Michael Kearney from OPSS joined us after lunch to discuss collaboration and how product regulations are making a difference.??

The next presentation was the much anticipated report of telescopic ladders testing from John Derby, ( Test & Research Centre ) Peter Bennet OBE (Ladder Association) and Phil Reed (Suffolk Council Trading Standards). With a developing partnership with trading standards the Ladder Association have conducted recent testing of telescopic ladders being imported into the country, most of which ending up on the shelves of online retailers and in stores. It was shocking to see that 4 out of 5 of these ladders failed testing, some of which failed the first drop test and could not be tested in all capacities as described by the standard. In summary 3 of 17 ladders purchased from non-Ladder Association members failed their tests, 9 were marked as EN131 but were not and 11 of these ladders buckled under applied weights.??

After another short break, it was time to introduce Sara Cartin ( Home Builders Federation ) and Nathan Preston ( Gleeson Homes ), who shared data that falls from ladders have decreased from 33% to 23%, indicating that although there is a decrease, there is still much work to be done. We then watched a Hollywood-style blockbuster put together by Ryan Moss , President of the American Ladder Institute and CEO of Little Giant Ladder Systems . Ryan discussed some of the changes and challenges they are facing across the pond, as well as how Little Giant are innovating products to make them safer for the end user.?

We visited exhibition spaces from a number of Ladder Association members, including our suppliers LFI and TB Davies, throughout the day and spoke with a number of industry professionals about our inspection system, services, and product offerings. Overall, it was a pleasure to be a part of the Ladder Association's celebrations; there have been many challenges overcome, but there are still many opportunities to continue to reduce falls from height.?For any further information or help and advice when working at height get in touch with our expert team.