A Queensland-based tradesperson has created The Claw, a simple and effective way of securing ladders to vehicles for safe travel.

Unsecured loads, especially ladders, are a major cause of accidents around the world with the US alone experiencing almost 1,000 deaths and nearly 20,000 injuries each year.

The Claw inventor, Chris Renouf, says he created the design through trial and error and hours of design. The Claw’s design quickly secures ladders on vehicle roof racks and transports them safely.

“It’s the quickest installation of any ladder-securing device currently in the marketplace and is compatible with all ladder types, sizes and roof rack configurations,” he says.

The Claw is being manufactured in Australia by injection mould specialists AMEC Plastics on the Gold Coast and is gearing up for production in early November backed by a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.

The ladder-securing device came to Chris after he witnessed a tragic accident on the M1 motorway on his way to Brisbane.

“A tradie’s extension ladders came loose in front of me, and they were like missiles before hitting the road and separating, spreading across four lanes of traffic travelling at 110km. It was catastrophic and fatal, and the event still affects me to this day,” Chris says.

“Since then, I’ve been wrestling with how to prevent this problem, and during the Covid lockdown when I had spare time, I set about creating a solution.”