Leading UK tool hire firms have been forced to remove DIY equipment from their shelves after a Which? investigation revealed safety faults in more than half the items examined.
The consumer group hired a selection of tools – wallpaper strippers, circular saws, tile cutters and hedge trimmers – from five major hire companies and four independent firms. But tests in an independent laboratory for electrical and mechanical safety revealed faults – all of which could lead to injury – in more than half, including unearthed plugs, worn and broken blades, kitchen foil used as a fuse and damaged wires.
Only one company – HSS – provided equipment with no safety faults at all. Of the other major companies included in the survey, all three tools hired from both Speedy and Brandon Hire had faults: a wallpaper stripper from Speedy had a split hose which could leak hot steam and scald the user, while a cut in an extension lead from Brandon Hire left only basic insulation and could expose users to the risk of an electric shock.
Two out of four tools hired from each of Jewson, Hire Station (part of Homebase) and Travis Perkins had faults. These included a loose earth screw on a tile cutter's transformer from Jewson, a foil "fuse", again in a tile cutter transformer, from Hire Station, and a broken blade extension (the very part designed to reduce the risk of injury) on a petrol hedge trimmer hired out by Travis Perkins.
The report, which appears in the April edition of Which? magazine, said that most of the companies agreed to remove the tools from the shelves to investigate further, while Jewson and Hire Station also agreed to tighten their safety procedures.
Peter Vicary-Smith, chief executive of Which?, said: "DIY enthusiasts trust these stores to provide safe, reliable equipment, but half the tools we tested failed our rigorous tests and some could have caused serious injury.
"We expect higher standards from hire companies. They need to consistently check tools – if the shops we visited had carried out effective basic checks, they would never have loaned out half of the equipment."
Which? was also concerned about the lack of safety equipment, such as goggles, gloves, ear protectors and circuit breakers, offered at the point of hire.
Speedy, whose staff failed to offer safety equipment on the three occasions it was "mystery shopped" by Which?, said it had taken the equipment claimed to be faulty out of circulation for testing, and added: "A full range of safety equipment is available at all our depots and our policy is to offer it – we are retraining and coaching our people."
However Brandon Hire refuted Which?'s findings. It said: "Our investigation found that the hedge trimmer does have a nick in the extension cable but the basic insulation is intact. We found a small leak with the wallpaper stripper and while there was some movement with the saw blade, there was no safety issue. Our record shows that [Which? was] offered protective equipment on all three occasions."