Safety message about ladders

Sounds like pure common sense. You saw it was more than you were "up to" (hah) and decided, no more! I've never gone up on a roof and don't intend to.

I have a rolling painter's scaffold with a 6-foot platform. Perfect for painting 10-foot walls at our home. Climbing the rungs is easy, but like a cat coming down a tree, I dislike descending backward without seeing where I'm going.

So, I devised a game I call "Space Walk." Like an astronaut, I slowly, consciously place each hand and foot before making the next move, and count the rungs out loud as I descend. (There's even a point where I "clear chest past the platform," lol). It's probably more caution than needed, but it assures I know exactly where my limbs are, even though I can't see them.

mystang52 said:
About 20 years ago I used my 25 foot step ladder (my teenage son spotted me) to tar a small leak on my roof. After I completed the small job, I looked down and thought to myself "What the f&*% am I doing up here?" To get back down, I had to face the roof, and blindly put me feet on the rung. My son was guiding me, but I was downright terrified. I got down completely unscathed, but vowed I'd never do that again. And I held true to that vow.
I got rid of the ladder a few years ago. Risk-benefit of climbing a tall ladder makes hiring someone else to do it a no-brainer, to me.
Click to expand...
 
This is why one's liability insurance soars when one hits 80. Doesn't matter how good a driver you still are. Insurance companies consider you a terrible risk, not just for causing accidents, but from breaking badly when you are hit.

My poor dad died from the effects of his car being hit in an intersection when he was 87, and otherwise doing OK. A younger person would've been protected by airbags, etc. but dad's osteoporosis netted him a broken neck, broken ribs and other things I don't remember. The ribs healed - the neck just continued to crumble, and I won't say more about his final months because it still makes me cry after all these years.

There does come a time when one's ability to avoid falls declines. That time varies for people, and not everybody, alas, recognizes when the time has come.

Aerides said:
I don't think the age thing is so much to lay blame for the accident, but the concern for the greater injury and lower survivability.

My 76 yo Dad knows better than I do how to place and use a ladder safely, but if we were to do the exact same thing and both fall, the likelihood he breaks something and winds up in the hospital is greater. So yes I tell him to stay off ladders (he doesn't listen).

We've all heard those stories of a person who was quite elderly but fine health-wise, then had a fall, broke something, and went downhill very, very quickly.
Click to expand...
 
Produced by the same people who put out the ad,
She: "Heart attack! Did they have life insurance?"
He: "No." (How the heck does he know that?)
She: "But WE have life insurance, right?" (Why doesn't she know?)

Car-Guy said:
Looks like some of us don't pay much attention to the Leaf Filters TV commercials. :)
Click to expand...
 
Good post about the need to review the safety of the job before getting started. The root cause of the problem was the uneven footing for the ladder. Although the added discussion about how much longer it takes to heal up as age increases is very valid and a good subject for consideration of the hiring out vs doing it yourself. If I have learned anything over time, it is to think more before starting something to anticipate what might go wrong.


I joke that I can still do everything I used to at half my current age, but now it hurts twice as much and the recovery takes twice as long. There is a lot of truth in that, not just injuries, but just overuse of muscles and joints. I feel the effects of aging already and I am only 57 now.
 
Car-Guy said:
Looks like some of us don't pay much attention to the Leaf Filters TV commercials. :)
Click to expand...

Yup, guilty of that too.. In my defense, if they weren't so over priced ....

:hide:

When I do get a new roof with new gutters, I'll have my roofer include gutter covers.
 
Yikes!
OP--hope X-ray is clear today and you continue to heal quickly.
 
X-rays showed I succeeded in breaking the elbow.

The stuff in the gutter was 2" of soil with leaves above that. Actually had plants up to a foot tall growing from it, so needed to be cleaned by hand. Our trees apparently drop lots of stuff! This was a perfect time since the February Texas freeze killed all my big shrubs and I just had the dead stuff ripped out, so was thinking this was going to be safer since I could finally the reach the gutter with a ladder and not have to climb on the roof. I was sooo close to being right about that.
 
:(owwwww....hope it was an in-place fracture, not a displaced one. Heal quickly, do your PT, and thanks for warning everybody to be careful!

Exchme said:
X-rays showed I succeeded in breaking the elbow.

The stuff in the gutter was 2" of soil with leaves above that. Actually had plants up to a foot tall growing from it, so needed to be cleaned by hand. Our trees apparently drop lots of stuff! This was a perfect time since the February Texas freeze killed all my big shrubs and I just had the dead stuff ripped out, so was thinking this was going to be safer since I could finally the reach the gutter with a ladder and not have to climb on the roof. I was sooo close to being right about that.
Click to expand...
 
I've seen all kinds of photos of ladder stabilization add-ons over the years. I wanted to buy one recently for a 4 foot step ladder but I couldn't find one quickly enough. Using a jigsaw on metal lath high on a wall is kind of dangerous with the pressure I wanted to use and it made my ladder tip a bit but not fall a few years ago. I wanted something like "ladder safety legs" that could be attached to a Louisville Ladder ladder. I'm not sure why they aren't available from Louisville Ladder or Werner. Those are the brands I trust most.
 
Yes, ladders used properly are safe for most people, but we often need to get somewhere and the ladder isn't always on level footing. I will say thought, that for me my balance is getting worse as I age and I have more problems than I use too.


Yesterday, the ladder wasn't level so I had my wife hold it, but she was holding the lower side, actually pulling me down. So I was yelling, honey you have to move to the other side. I then climbed down and got something underneath the foot to make it level. I still had her hold it.


Two summers we had to repair parts of our chimney. We have a two story house and the chimney goes about 6' higher. We rented a giant extension ladder, but it really was not safe. My DW was also supposed to be holding the ladder, but kept throwing the ball for the dogs and bouncing it. I was like 30' in the air. I wasn't happy. Is my DW trying to collect Life Ins?!? :O) I have enough to help her for a couple of years, but I should be worth more alive than dead. :O)



We put the job off for a year and rented commercial scaffolding and one of my younger sons helped with all of the repairs.


cd :O)
 
I tipped over a step ladder while building a Carport. I was near one of the beams, so when the ladder tipped, I hooked the beam with my arm. I swung one direction, then the other and then slipped off and hit the ground, I came out of it without any real injury, but was lucky.
One of my older buddies fell backwards off of a ladder and luckily hit some
bushes that cushioned his fall and he just rolled off the bushes without injury. But he realizes he was very lucky the ladder was near the bushes.
 
In such situations, I hire help. The thought of someone holding an unstable ladder makes me cringe. Especially someone who isn't focused totally on my safety....:confused:

Chris7 said:
Yes, ladders used properly are safe for most people, but we often need to get somewhere and the ladder isn't always on level footing.

Yesterday, the ladder wasn't level so I had my wife hold it,

My DW was also supposed to be holding the ladder, but kept throwing the ball for the dogs and bouncing it.
Click to expand...
 
I don't trust ladder stabilizers. I will use a stepladder on somewhat un-level ground, but the ladder has to feel stable, if you know what I mean. Not shift from foot to foot when I'm going up and down.

I trim some of our shorter palm trees myself, using a 32-inch pruner, from a 10-foot Louisville stepladder. There's one spot that just isn't level enough. That particular tree has been allowed to go untrimmed. One of these days, I will add it to the yearly tab for the big palms.

Boho said:
I've seen all kinds of photos of ladder stabilization add-ons over the years. I wanted to buy one recently for a 4 foot step ladder but I couldn't find one quickly enough. Using a jigsaw on metal lath high on a wall is kind of dangerous with the pressure I wanted to use and it made my ladder tip a bit but not fall a few years ago. I wanted something like "ladder safety legs" that could be attached to a Louisville Ladder ladder. I'm not sure why they aren't available from Louisville Ladder or Werner. Those are the brands I trust most.
Click to expand...
 
The tallest ladder I use is a 9 foot ladder and only inside the house. Will not go on the roof under any conditions.
 
Had two uncles come off ladders...one broke both ankles, the other broke both wrists.

No climbing up ladders for me...
 
You are lucky. My fellow coworker a number of years ago was on a ladder working on the side of his house. He fell and from his injuries he passed away.
 
My husband fell off the ladder last year. He was only about 6' up. Landed on his side. Massive tear to his rotator cuff.
 
Well I still use ladders and I'll even get up on the roof if necessary. Although I avoid it for the most part...

However, gone are the days of using my tractors FEL (and ladder in the bucket) to reach higher places... :) Actually a fairly common (but stupid) practice around here for many of the younger men.
 
Last edited:
I use an extension ladder to get on the roof at least quarterly. Blow out the gutters.

Bottom feet on level concrete, locked into paver gaps. Top extended 4 feet over roof. Gutter reinforced both sides of ladder contact. Ladder bungee'd to gutter supports.

Ladder can't move side to side at top and can't slip back on bottom. Like walking up stairs. Easy.
 
RobbieB said:
I use an extension ladder to get on the roof at least quarterly. Blow out the gutters.

Bottom feet on level concrete, locked into paver gaps. Top extended 4 feet over roof. Gutter reinforced both sides of ladder contact. Ladder bungee'd to gutter supports.

Ladder can't move side to side at top and can't slip back on bottom. Like walking up stairs. Easy.
Click to expand...
If your gutters are sealed with screen gutters would not it be easier for you? You would not have to blow them out.
 
My problem is I can't keep my 60 yr old wife of off ladders. She has her greenhouse and fruit trees she in trimming and picking every year. I have chastised her several times for not being safe on a ladder.
 
At some point, the point of RE is to hire others to do the risky job, and have an umbrella policy. If you have a $3-4M portfolio, why are you cleaning your own gutters?

No need to shorten one’s precious life by climbing a ladder in a risky situation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Any McDonald's Shareholders?
Replies
10
Views
731
MichealKnight
M
M
Aspartame Withdrawal?
2
Replies
42
Views
4K
euro
euro
easysurfer
I Need a Newer GPS ... or Do I?
2 3 4
Replies
75
Views
4K
tulak
T
P
Why am I so terrified to stop working?
2 3
Replies
63
Views
4K
Koolau
Koolau
M
What do you take for high blood pressure?
3 4 5
Replies
124
Views
11K
stephenson
S

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom