A folding emergency escape ladder for a dwelling includes a fixed vertical riser for fitting to the external wall of a dwelling, spaced apart, retractable rails pivoted thereto from a first end to function as rungs of the ladder and a movable vertical riser fitted in correspondingly from a second end of the rails such that the ladder is moveable between a retracted state with the rails folded up into the fixed and retracted vertical risers and an expanded, deployed state with the rails and risers functioning as a ladder mounted to the wall, one or more rails including an elongate rail rung terminating at the first and second ends in a rung head including an integral pivot and a projecting lobe extending radially from the pivot, the lobe including a buffer foot abutting a portion of the vertical risers coincident with the deployed state to buffer deployment of the ladder.