Posted By J Knight
Hi Phillip,

I have found the British Ladder Manufacturer's Association website to be very helpful; unfortunately it seems to be being redesigned at the moment, but it has some contact phone numbers on it, so look at http://www.ladders-blma.co.uk/. Access equipment really should be built to a standard, in your case probably at least BS/EN 131, and should be marked as such,

John

Posted By AlB
The equipment itself may well be safe, but without a CE mark it is extremely difficult to prove should something go wrong. Incorrect assembly of the stepladder can also lead to severe consequences, and again you would be hard pushed to prove competence in the event of an accident. Standing on the platform of a stepladder is dangerous and is considered to be a no-no in almost every organisation. The platform is designed to put equipment on and to provide stability to the ladders. Standing on the top step can cause it to become unbalanced very very easily. Tell the manager that the set up is not adequate, there is a lack of suitable risk assessment (a risk assessment would have highlighted these issues) and there is a genuine risk to the person using the equipment and a risk to the business.

Posted By Philip Roberts
Good morning all,
Thanks for your reponses and recommendations. I have now secured agreement that the ladder in question will be removed from service and replaced with a proper working platform.
I re-checked for a kite/CE mark and there is definitly no mark. However on checking requirements I could not find any reference to the requirement for marking this type of equipment, any pointers to a difinitive list of equipment required to be marked would be appreciated.

Best regards
Phil

Posted By J Knight
Philip,

You will find a legal requirment in the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER98) Reg. 10;

'(1) Every employer shall ensure that an item of work equipment has been designed and constructed in compliance with any essential requirements, that is to say requirements relating to its design or construction in any of the instruments listed in Schedule 1 (being instruments which give effect to Community directives concerning the safety of products).'

The guidance to this regulation goes on to say;

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'Regulation 10(1) places a duty on you as users of work equipment. When first providing work equipment for use in the workplace you should ensure that it has been made to the requirements of the legislation implementing any product Directive which is relevant to the equipment. (For interpretation of ‘provided for use’ see the guidance on regulation 1.) This means that in addition to specifying that work equipment should comply with current health and safety legislation, you should also specify that it should comply with the legislation implementing any relevant EC Directive. Where appropriate, you can check to see that the equipment bears a CE marking and ask for a copy of the EC Declaration of Conformity.'

In addition to this Reg 23calls for markings appropriate for safety.

Your ladder should carry a CE mark, indeed it should indicate that it has been manufactured to to BS/EN 131, though 132 would be fine.

PUWER98 applies to ladders as much as to any other wokr equipment, so apart from reasons of due diligence rightly quoted by other posters, there is in my view a simple legal duty,

John

Posted By chris_40004
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