Ladder Exchange 2014 Launches
People and businesses across the UK again have the chance to trade their old ladders in for discounted new ones this year, with the Ladder Exchange 2014 beginning on September 1st.
Run by industry body the Ladder Association, the Ladder Exchange takes old, potentially dangerous ladders out of circulation by offering people a cash incentive to trade them in. The 2014 scheme will run from September until the end of the year.
The Ladder Association’s Chairman, Cameron Clow, said: “This is our third year running the Ladder Exchange, which has been an excellent means of getting out the ladder safety message while helping people in a practical way. Thousands of ladders were traded in last year, saving a lot of people and businesses money and, more importantly, hopefully lives as well.”
Safety for the people who actually work on ladders is particularly being promoted during the 2014 Exchange. As noted in the new HSE guidance released this year, people working with ladders must be competent and “have had instruction and understand how to use the equipment safely”.
As the guidance goes on to say, appropriate training can help to prove competence. The UK-wide ladder training scheme accredited by the Ladder Association focuses on this competence, and the 2014 campaign highlights the training centres throughout the UK which provide it.
This year’s Exchange will also come with expert tips for checking the condition of ladders and using them in the home, and a look at the experiences people have had with unsafe ladder use.
As in previous years, running alongside the Exchange will be the Idiots on Ladders contest. Anyone can send in pictures of dangerous ladder use to the Ladder Association Facebook page www.facebook.com/ladderassociation or email to info@ladderassociation.org.uk. The public vote will then determine 2014’s biggest “idiot on a ladder”.
All of these tips and information will be available from the Ladder Exchange website.