Posted By Ian Goddard ive just been on the internet and there is a website which do custom ladders may be they may help. www.ladders-online.com regards Ian Goddard

Posted By George Wedgwood You have also unearthed a minefield! Yes, I have been looking at this also and talking to manufacturers and the HSE for 2 years now and with little progress. The dealers are too big and take too long to shift their production designs to accommodate small requests from purchasers for 'safety' additions! They always say that 'we don't get asked for safety additions like proper stairs, sliding doors and fences to stop falls, because they cost more! When challenged with the 'safe product' laws they stop discussing and threaten the HSE! Anyway, I know now that the HSE are happy that the buyer owns the risks and must do something like retro-fit. We have worked with Liebherr and they were good at providing stairs and platforms to an agreed design. Such fitting could compromise the CE certification but the HSE say that they are not worried about that so long as risks to the operators are managed. There are several companies that can retro-fit decent stairs, (I see you have found Hedweld of Aus!) fences, steps, guards etc but ther are mainly smaller companies and local. We have found a few good manufacturing companies that can do the welding and fitting to a reasonable standard and we are starting to recommend specific firms to do our work across the country (60 odd depots around the UK with material handling cranes, fels, etc.) One key document that you will find useful is the new BS EN 13586:2004 for Cranes - Access. Few suppliers know about it (Caterpillar certainly did not) so it is worth mentioning if buying new and if retro-fitting, it gives a good guide as to the requirements for safe access. If you would like to discuss it further, please email or call me for a chat. Regards, George 07836 718908