Nearly made a real prat of myself

[keir]

That sounds like a very close scrape keir.

Tell me about it, i used trad for 9 years, in that 9 years had 4 falls/bail outs

Looking back all 4 were down to me taking calculated risks over and over till complacency kicked in, as i get older i realise that my body wont let me get away with what i used to ask of it, basically as a kid i seemed cat like when it came to potentially dangerous scenarios, then as a teenager got more confident and in my twenties totally got to the indestructible stage.

Three of the four falls i just landed on my feet like spiderman or something lol, the other one was pretty terrifying, big set of 16's fully extended but punching off a wall 3 foot tall, done it many many times but this time as i arrived at the window next thing i know i'm surfing my ladder down the wall, i just thought when this stops my legs will go through the rungs and snap, it was too high to bail and even if i did it would've been onto a flagged back yard!

But it all slowed down to a gentle stop and i just stepped off the then horizontal ladders!! The ladders had pierced a wheelie bin which was pushed across a gravel drive and into a garden bed hence the braking effect, you know the yellow end caps of the styles? Well on the wall to this day there are two yellow skid marks down the wall lol.

Thats why i love wfp soooo much because there is no risk any more which seemed to bring the daredevil out in me, when i used to scaffold i used to take horrendous risks looking back, but it was the perfect job for me in those days just to scratch that danger itch.

Not anymore i'm safe as houses, too old for all that lol

 

[Smurf]

Yep that's why many convert over to wfp as they ant spiderman anymore /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[norm]

I fell off my ladder over reaching

Tell me about it, i used trad for 9 years, in that 9 years had 4 falls/bail outsLooking back all 4 were down to me taking calculated risks over and over till complacency kicked in, as i get older i realise that my body wont let me get away with what i used to ask of it, basically as a kid i seemed cat like when it came to potentially dangerous scenarios, then as a teenager got more confident and in my twenties totally got to the indestructible stage.

Three of the four falls i just landed on my feet like spiderman or something lol, the other one was pretty terrifying, big set of 16's fully extended but punching off a wall 3 foot tall, done it many many times but this time as i arrived at the window next thing i know i'm surfing my ladder down the wall, i just thought when this stops my legs will go through the rungs and snap, it was too high to bail and even if i did it would've been onto a flagged back yard!

But it all slowed down to a gentle stop and i just stepped off the then horizontal ladders!! The ladders had pierced a wheelie bin which was pushed across a gravel drive and into a garden bed hence the braking effect, you know the yellow end caps of the styles? Well on the wall to this day there are two yellow skid marks down the wall lol.

Thats why i love wfp soooo much because there is no risk any more which seemed to bring the daredevil out in me, when i used to scaffold i used to take horrendous risks looking back, but it was the perfect job for me in those days just to scratch that danger itch.

Not anymore i'm safe as houses, too old for all that lol

bet thats not the only skid marks you had that day

 

[Smurf]

Hi @norm are you back to work full time yet as if I remenber you were quite badly hurt?

 

[norm]

yes @Smurf back to as normal as I can be

my shoulder sticks up a bit where it meets my collerbone he he its bit weird looking but thats the way it will stay

noticed my knuckle has been knocked out of line but all working good

 

[Smurf]

Glad to hear that you made a full recover of sorts

How long were you off work after yer 5 ft ladder fall?

 

[keir]

Glad to hear that you made a full recover of sorts
How long were you off work after yer 5 ft ladder fall?

Blimey norm sounds like you had a bud'un what happened?

5ft??? Maaaan i have been lucky if thats the case, smallest get off i've had was 12ft but the ladder surfing one was more like 22ft

 

[Smurf]

@norm was clearing gutters on a bungalow but overeached a bit too far instead of moving the ladder. Split second silly mistake that anyone could make but cost him dear

 

[norm]

thanks @Smurf took 2 full weeks off then worked with sling on and hand plastered just holding ladder,cleaning doors and keeping an eye on my guy

soon as got my sling off started lefty about 3 weeks later put sling back on seen doc said xray is good you can take off sling and dont wear it anymore

got heavy cast off and light one on able to do bottom windows lefty

couple of weeks or so got that off so started using right again

thats longer than a mini series

 

[Smurf]

At least you're not going to do that again are you @norm

 

[norm]

NO stupid is as stupid does, too painful mate

 

[Smurf]

Must of cost you alot of money too norm being off and all

 

[norm]

not too bad Smurf as I work 2-3 days a week. thinking back I was put into big head/neck restrain because I was out cold for a few seconds and was being checked for neck damage cant complain about the outcome

 

[Smurf]

Indeed norm you were lucky as the outcome could have been alot worse.

 

[Duncs]

nowt worse when you hav,int got your ladder right, dont know how the roofers do it, when they climb there ladders then step onto the cat ladder scary

 

[Smurf]

Old school roofers tend not to use cat ladders at all duncs.

This is how they should do it like sat installers use but how many roofers would bother with fall protection anyway

[media]

[/media]

 

[Andy]

Must get a closer look at that harness setup im thinking it works along the same lines as a car seat belt. The only weird thing about the video is chicken and egg all ready up high and lowerd ladder down. but on a serious note that set up with ankalad and micro stand off you aint going very far.

 

[Smurf]

I have that same fall arrest system as shown in the vid and is defo a good bit of kit to use.

 

[mrtaytay]

All of these stories really make you think. I would imagine one of the biggest causes of ladder accidents/falls is that lack of concentration. One mistake I have made on several occasions is, when coming back down the ladder, stepping off before you have reached the bottom rung. Just a simple mistake that could end up quite nasty. I have always managed to keep my balance but you could end up falling back and taking the ladder with you. All down to concentration.

 

[Smurf]

This is an interesting pdf to read.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/misc613.pdf

 

[mrtaytay]

I have just downloaded it and read it. Its a well written document that provides some good guidance.