Ladder Slipped - Ouch - My Story

[monkeyman12]

Buying super strong A frame ladders, fitting adjustable base on them,and also fitting stabiliser arms on each side of the ladder,is in my opinion somewhere near to the safest setup for ladder work you can get.


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[andrew booth]

Of course, it would never happen to me, I'm far too careful. I never take a chance, and I pride myself on my safety precautions. I bought my LadderMate for 25 quid off of e-bay years ago and it's the best bit of kit I've ever bought. I throw it on the foot of my Titans whenever there is gravel, decking or those slimey paving slabs....grass of course, is never a problem.

So what happened last Thursday ?

I'm cleaning the windows of a regular 4 bedroom house where there are three windows up, and three down at the rear. I clean two of the first floor windows, then put my ladder in place of the third but, return to clean the two ground floor windows first, to break up the monotony. A neighbour pops round and asks 'do you have 5 minutes to clean mine' ?
I had to decline, I'm way too far behind trying to catch up after Xmas and recovering from a cold. I could maybe fit her in on Monday etc etc.
I return to finish the ground floor windows and then I climb my ladder to clean the third bedroom window. I soaped up, started squeegee-ing and was just thinking to myself, 'um, could I possibly fit her in if I'm quick' and then I felt it, my ladder was sliding, perfectly smoothly and building momentum rapidly.

Everything started going through my mind but my main thought was, "of course it's slipping, I didn't even check it and yes, I have had to use my LadderMate here before because the paving is slimey below this window"... and then I had a flash back of even seeing the green slime when I put my ladder up but I wasn't even thinking at the time, I was too busy giggling to myself about how that neighbour thought it only takes 5 minutes to clean her windows. Of course all of this was flashing through my mind at light speed and now, I was half way down and the reality cut in....yes this is really happening, I'm on my way to an accident.

At this point I started telling myself, LAND ON YOUR FEET, land on your feet, don't fall, don't land upside down. I felt I was surfing the ladder, is the tip of my ladder going to go through the kitchen window which lies directly below...is anyone witnessing this...can I make it look like everything's in control and it's not as seriuous as it looks, I even had a flash of posting this thread on this forum, am I going to be lucky or, could this end my career or WORSE ?
****, here's the floor......brace !

It stung, my god it stung. Pain shot up my legs and into my back....argh my back. Clatter clatter from my Titans and then the accident stopped. I let out a big 'f...ing hell' and immediately looked at my legs, please don't let me see any strange twists....no, all I can see is my ladders around my lower legs....can I wiggle my feet, yes I can. But no way could I move, the pain in my back didn't last but my legs were stinging like hell. I lay there maybe 30 seconds repeatly saying 'oh f..k'. I looked up at the window and could see the half cleaned glass....how strange I felt such concern for the terrible job I'd done. I pulled my legs out of my ladders and lay on my back for a minute, no way could I stand up....then I felt terribly sick, I moved to all fours and edged towards a drain to throw up but, it passed, I was ok....just breathe....breathe.

After a couple of minutes, I decided to try to get to my feet, I managed it and wobbled down the garden a few yards to try to walk off any injury. My mop was over there, my squeegee was over here and my business cards had exited my pocket and lay all over the yard. I unbuckled my belt and went out front to my car. I got in, lit a cigarette and phoned the wife at work to tell her. My shins were all bloody, I had scraped them as they went between the rungs, my left calf was bruised, my left wrist was sore.

A couple of cigarettes later, I returned to the scene, picked up my ladder, and repositioned it against the window, I was curious, I got inside the ladder and gently pushed on the bottom rung, it was like a skate on ice....I had been doomed from the moment I went up there. How did it hold for so long, allowing me to soap up and start to squeegee before it went ?

I grabbed my LadderMate and went back up there to finish that, and the kitchen window. Thankfully, there was no damage to the property. I could barely use my left wrist. I finished up and struggled to rack my ladders, I could barely push down the levers of my fast release clamps, my left wrist was now really becoming sore. Time to drive home, which I did by mostly changing gear with my right hand. A couple of hours later and once the wife got home from work, she drove me to A&E for an X-ray on my wrist which the Doctor was convinced, was broken. It wasn't and I was given a splint and returned home.

I've recovered quite well over the weekend, I couldn't move my wrist at all by the end of Thursday night but after a few days of rest, it's a lot more free today, yellow-ish with brusing and there's no way I could put pressure on it but, at least it's free enough for me to be able to type this out.
My legs aren't too sore and I can now walk without a limp. I'm hoping to be back by the end of the week to finish last Thursday - Friday's work.....but we'll see.

So has this put me off ladders, no not at all. It was my complacency that caused this accident, concentrating too much on the job, the round, the customer and totally over looking my ladder safety, something I have been strict on for the past 5 years. Of course my ladder slipped, I put it on slimey slabs and climbed it, that is what happened here....why did I forget all my safety ? Distracted by a customer...positioning my ladder before I was ready to climb it and therefore forgetting my checks...going with the flow and thinking of what next rather than what now. All of these little things contributed but at the end of the day, I got complacent, I forgot about the danger, it's like being so used to crossing a shark infested lake by boat that one day, you decide to swim but forget about...um, what was the danger again ?

I can NEVER let this happen again, oh I was lucky yes, oh I might not be next time, of course I realise all of this but, I have to make sure that there is never a next time. Ladders are perfectly safe as long as they are used in safe conditions and that also means, with a clear mind. I must remind myself of this every single time I put my foot on the first rung from here on end. And I must keep trying to dream up that device that works like a LadderMate but, never leaves the ladder and never gets in the way of the job.

Thanks for reading.

i love it when customers pay many thousands for a concrete imprinted drive then i turn up position my ladder and then get my cold chisel out and hammer a hole in the drive for my spikes