[wishywashy]

dear all you window professionals 
 i have just recently started and seen articles on ladder bans . Is this any true . please comment
thanks

[rosskesava]

None what so ever.

The working at hieght directive (as I understand it) applies in the main to companies whether large or small.

I'm sure someone on this forum will correst me if I'm wrong, which I may well be, but the use of ladders is not banned. It's that if you can only use ladders, then you must use them in the safest way possible.

As I have understood it, if I do a job of work for a company and they use me because I am the cheapest and I use ladders, and by doing so I put myself at risk, then that is against the directive. The directive is to make sure the job being done is done is the safest possible way taking into account the best way to do the job.

After hours of trawling the internet, and countless phone calls to the HSE and going around in circles, it seems that the directive does not apply to private dwellings unless it is obvious that the risk is totally uneccessary.

That's what I understand and I may be wrong. It's all very confusing.

WFP'er's (sorry - and no I'm not having a go as we are going over to WFP's this year because ladders are dangerous) sometimes can, and I don't mean that rudely, over state the rules and those who use traditional methods can understate them for likewise reasons.

I bet your now still not clear.

Well, that's the European Union for you. Just don't try selling the wrong size bannanas in pounds and ounzes whilst window cleaning with ladders.

[Ian_Giles]

These rules apply to us all, they aren't going to make a lot of difference immediately for domestic window cleaners, though if you have an insurance claim it could well mean you won't be covered if you haven't complied completely with the directive.
Those of us working on sites, factories and other large commercial places are going to be most affected.
It isn't a ladder ban, ladders are ok to use, but there is a maximum height at which you can work off a ladder, is it 6 or 7 metres it isn't that high really.
I think that above that height you have to have fall restraints, the ladder has to be secured to the wall, it has to be footed and so on.
Maybe that applies to working below those maximum heights too blowed if I know :
There are links somewhere on the forum that will take you direct to the official documentation, makes really turgid reading though.
And even Health and safety officers will give you different opinions, depending on their own interpretations of the new (or rather, updated) regs.

If you haven't even considered going over to the use of WFP, do so, or at least look into it.
It isn't as cheap as traditional methods to get into by any means, but over the next few years, traditional, ladder based window cleaning is going to become more and more marginalised.

Ian

[Ian_Giles]

Good for you Graham, though I can't really see where, at least in window cleaning, the ladder would be needed for something a WFP couldn't reach.
Cradles and bosun chairs and so on yes, not ladders though.

Ian