Hire Equipment Companies Had Equipment Removed

Some of the biggest names in UK hire companies have had their product ranges taken off shop floors, down to a recent Which? Safety test. They were found not to comply to safety standards. Which? Went around to hiring companies and hired items of DIY machinery from some of the biggest Diy hire companies in the UK. In the test a rather alarming 50% of tools failed. Plugs were incorrectly wired; some of the blades were not sharpened, and rusty – ready to break at anytime. Some of the company’s tools even went as far to utilise kitchen foil as an attempt to fuse together damaged wires, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that this can lead to injury.

In fact there was only one company in the whole testing time that shone though and had no bad errors in their trading procedure. Their hiring equipments quality standard was tip top, and above all the rest ‘HSS’ were a credit to the UK DIY industry. See below for more alarming results;

Companies That Failed

• Jewson – only 2 out of 4 of their tools complied with standards, they had errors such as unstable earth screws on tile cutters transformers, and there was a high risk of getting an electric shock as a result of using their hire equipment.
• Speedy – All 3 of the tools hired from them were faulty, there was a hose completely split open in a wallpaper stripper that could easy burn someone.
• Brandon Hire – All 3 of their tools were faulty as well. In fact one of their dangerous tools had a cut in the extension lead – leaving only a simple insulation making users at risk of getting electric shocks.
• Travis Perkins – two out of 4 of their tools were faulty , one of the worst tools found being offered for hire was a petrol ran hedge cutter that had a damaged blade extension. This is the part that’s used to stop users obtaining injury!
• The Independents – 2 out of 4 of their tools were damaged; some of the problems included a round saw with no riving knife, the blade was dangerous as without the missing part, it could turn on the user.
• Hire Station – another awful 2 out of 4 problems including fuses that were gone and repaired with foil, posing a very high fire risk.

Other shops had their products under concern. Mr. Peter Vicary Smith the chief executive of the which? Foundation was quoted as saying ‘that the general publics trust the stores and to have equipment on offer so badly damaged was irresponsible. They should have checked the tools on a regular basis, and this could have been avoided.’