T&R in the Media
BBC's Morning Live investigation into dangerous ladders
2025 is off to a flying start, as we helped the BBC’s Morning Live team investigate dangerous ladders.
21/01/25
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T&R in the Media
2025 is off to a flying start, as we helped the BBC’s Morning Live team investigate dangerous ladders.
21/01/25
The Ladder Association’s campaign, “Step up to safe ladders” has been gaining momentum over the last few years. Aided by product testing, here at the Test & Research Centre, we had always hoped to break into the mainstream media.
In December 2024, the Association was approached by researchers from the BBC’s Morning Live programme. They had picked up on the Association’s campaign and market surveillance reports. After several meetings, they agreed that this was a story worth investigating.
Following a successful pitch to their bosses, a filming date was set in January at the Test & Research Centre.
The segment, aired on 21st Jan 2025 (and available on iPlayer) shows filming that took place on 9 Jan at Soham.
The piece includes interviews with Peter Bennett OBE, Ladder Association Executive Director, together with John Darby, our General Manager.
With footage of testing to ladder standards, carried out by John, we see our 3 samples from Amazon and eBay fail the strength tests before the full test load is applied. All three barely supported the rated load, let alone the full test load, before collapsing.
The film also speaks to Joffrey Bogemans, an electrician who suffered a 4.5m (16ft) fall from height, when a telescopic ladder snapped underneath him.
Joffrey is a Belgian-born / London-based electrician with his own business, who bought a so-called EN 131 compliant ladder from Amazon.
Despite using it correctly and taking all the right precautions, the ladder bent and then totally sheared in half, causing Joffrey to fall and leaving him with some pretty nasty injuries. With a damaged shoulder, broken ribs and cut heel, he was quite lucky not to sustain major life-changing injuries.
He’s an interesting character who is now on a mission to stop the sale of unsafe ladders online.
Our General Manager, John Darby, comments;
“It was fascinating to go through the process of how these items are made. It may only be on screen for a handful of minutes, but the research, care and attention the BBC team paid to the project was quite astonishing.”
“It also feels like a pat on the back for all the hard work we have put into this campaign. Getting this subject onto national TV, with an audience in the millions, could make a real difference.”
“People like Joffrey use these dangerous ladders every day, and it’s probably only by luck that more are not injured.”
The Test & Research Centre was founded to help make access products and their users safer. We are committed to working with all stakeholders, including the Office for Product Safety and Standards and industry bodies like the Ladder Association, to ensure that users have access to products that conform with British and European Standards.
Do you import ladders like those in the BBC film? Contact us to find out how we can help you to validate your supply chain.
34 Regal Drive, Soham, Cambridgeshire, CB7 5BE.
A UK-based Certification Body, Test Laboratory and training facility that specialises in access equipment.
A member of the British Measurement and Testing Association.
