I am booked to go on a ladder safety training course next week and have just had a note through from the training company to say that I will need to bring Steel Toe Boots, Hi Vis vest and a hard hat (All the ladder work i'll be doing for work will be at relatively low heights and indoors!)
Anyways, does anyone know of any national chains where I can go and buy this stuff over the counter. I have a feeling Screwfix trade counter might be the way to go, but thought i'd ask here.
snipped-for-privacy@o2.co.uk coughed up some electrons that declared:
Wickes havea lot of workwear, as do B&Q.
HTH
Tim
You could try
Here is a link to their branch locator
When I asked about toe-tecs some time back, several people recommended Asda. I headed to an Asda, but before I got there, I noticed a regular shoe shop had them. Mine look like pretty ordinary trainers with ankle support, but come with the certificate of testing for crushing (1 or 2 tonnes, IIRC) and sole puncture protection. I was told I'd have to show this, but in the event no one asked to see it.
Hi-vis vests available for well under a fiver from a stall in most markets. Even ones in the form of good padded waterproof coats are only about £10, although you won't want that type at this time of year.
I had an old wooden ladder break under me recently )-:
Hat and vest would not have helped me at all. I crashed through the ladder onto a wooden block, then directly down onto my bum!
Not sure what the different might have been if I had been wearing boots rather than slippers...
Good luck on the course! I was just looking at a hanging basket bracket...
Gordon
Any builders' merchant will have them.
Colin Bignell
They do all you need, but try
To add to the others, Makro do loads of HiVis stuff.
Also when buying Steel Toe shoes etc, but a size larger than you usually have, and wear thicker socks. Otherwise the restricted toe movment can soon become uncomfortable.
I get my steel cap boots from Toolstation.
Any BM should have it all - the local Travis Perkins does. But not necessarily at the best price. The hat goggles and Hi-Vis should be cheap enough - but the footware varies enormously in cost, and can be pretty expensive. Worth checking out a large ASDA, Tesco or Sainsbury - they sometimes have them.
Oh _that's_ why the contractor gave me a look when I borrowed his ladder for a moment to re-plug the access point in the false ceiling!
I was a good three feet up...
Andy
Hi viz vests are a pound each at our local car boot sale site. Safety boots I get from ARCO
Does this coarse include ladder inspection for fit to use?
I had a small job at a primary school about 3 years ago and I could inspect the aluminiun ladders no problem, due to my experience in the aerospace industry, but the wooden one, I was never sure about, so I didn't use it unless I *really* had to.
Ladder examination should form a large part of this coarse.
Dave
Best, IMHO, are wood ones with aluminium rungs. Have the right amount of 'bounce' without the danger of rungs breaking.
Yep, the course is =A385 without this module, and =A3120 with and we've gone for the =A3120 version.
We have a number of nice shiny Alu ladders around the site, but the facilities dept have locked them all up and said we can't use them as we're not trained. When I asked last week if we could have a key once we are trained, they pointed out that they are actualy part of a different limited co and they have asked the powers that be about the liability issues, but nobody has given them a descision. We could wind up having to have 2 sets of ladders in each location! My brain hurts :=3D((
snipped-for-privacy@o2.co.uk coughed up some electrons that declared:
I agree that school leavers and people who come from different career backgrounds definitely should get formal H&S training on certain issues but why does no one run a Common Sense course for duh mannigmunt?
I was watching the fitters putting up replacement plastic fascias and soffits on a couple of houses near me last week. It seems that, now doing such work from a ladder is not acceptable, they are provided with a simple platform. This consists of a flat work area simply butted up against the wall, held in place by friction and a pair of legs angled outwards.
It looked as if the platform had sockets for handrails, but none were in use. The guy was standing up working on the gable end with absolutely nothing to stop him from falling.
Chris
Chris J Dixon coughed up some electrons that declared:
Typical "follow the policy in a half arsed way and miss the point in a fully arsed way".
In the real world, self employed windows fitters shinny up ladders (our landlord's did exactly that only last year) carrying 5-6m lengths of plastic board. I suspect the thought of being unable to work for 3 months (whatever) with a broken bone helps them to ensure appropriate safety measures for the job (eg tying the ladder) are followed.
Window cleaners are still seem on ladders round here - but more than likely all one man businesses.
Cheers
Tim
Our local window cleaner hates our house - does it with mops, etc. on long poles early in the mornings when no traffic is about. The house is right on a bend with a tiny bit of pavement..
And we currently have it covered in scaffolding - repaining to walls and general TLC on the gutters, fascia boards, etc. We know the last person who did it was on a long ladder (needs a 3-section one to get anywhere close) and it was a bit of a cover-up job )-:
Gordon
This seems to be a bit of EU regs which, for once, someone else did more "gold plating" than us. In Holland, apparently, window cleaners are no longer allowed to use ladders at all, and have to use things like scissor lifts and cherry pickers, making the task no longer economic for domestic customers.
Did you need some sort of council application to put that up?
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