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Members of our Estates team have drilled 4 x 4mm holes into our ladders in order to attach inspection tags via pop rivets. The inspection company have now condemned 25 of our ladders stating they are a hazard due to the holes and do not comply.
Options are:
1. Risk assessing the ladders, however our Estates team have now been on an inspection course for ladders and needless to say are delighted to say the ladders do not comply.
2. Condemn and purchase new ladders at a significant cost
Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
SBH
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Rank: Super forum user
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Rank: Super forum user
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Not sure exactly what criteria these ladders are failing their inspections on.
HSE Step ladder inspections HSE Leaning ladder inspections The Ladder Association guidance (see page 11) Sounds like they are being pedantic. There is no mention in any of the guidance about small addtional holes. Basically it covers rivets/joins, rungs, feet, stiles etc. Go back to them and ask exactly what the criteria for failure is. In saying that, we have always used stickers too.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I suspect the risk will be that the structural integrty of the ladder has been weakened which is why we wouldn't recommend drilling into ladders for attachment of our tags (most of our customers use cable ties).
IF you do end up needing to replace them then be aware of "recent" changes to the EN131 Standard to ensure you buy to the latest guidance - key changes are listed below (more aimed at ladder manufacturers but customers should be aware too): - Load Rating – A minimum load rating capacity of 150Kg for all ladders. The new standard ensures that all ladders will have a minimum WLL of 150kg.
- Dimensions – Extension ladders over 3m high will have to wider base for increased stability.
- Durability – A new cycle durability test has been introduced of a way of proving durability
If in dount - maybe try contacting the Ladder Association for some clarification to see if you can avoid the need to replace them all? If you want any info on our tagging/inspection systems just drop me a PM and I will forward you the details for consideration.
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 1 user thanked grim72 for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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I agree with #4. Drilling holes in load bearing sections isn't a great idea for relatively slender and light weight structures such as ladders. Clearly once a hole is drilled, the stress forces in the ladder are then concetrated in the remaining material, which will have a reduced area of material - hence the stress forces increase..
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2 users thanked Ian Bell2 for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Buy new ladders and send the invoice to the estates team who damaged the items in the first place.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Buy new ladders and send the invoice to the estates team who damaged the items in the first place.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Right The ladders have been made and tested against a particular standard and are basically guaranteed as safe when they left the factory. If the ladders are kept in condition as close to that factory fresh condition they can be assumes to be “safe”. If you drill holes in one, they are no longer in that condition and should really be retested against the standard, which of course they won’t be. So you can assume (and it’s fair assumption) that they are probably ok but it’s not a guarantee. You should really replace the ladders at some point but more importantly find out who and why they thought that drilling holes in ladders was a good idea!
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Rank: Super forum user
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This is the modern version of painting ladders and scaffold boards to identify them. In principle doing anything that might obscure a defect is not very clever, but sometimes pragmatism says that you need some marker to show ownership. However in this case someone has deliberately damaged something designed to a standard. Even if we ignore the principle that the product should be maintained to that standard, someone is going to have a problem proving that each ladder remains fit for purpose, particularly if it has just failed. Probably time to bite the bullet and replace 25 ladders or cut them down in length (assuming you can do that without compromising the standard to which they have been manufactured).
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