Safety message about ladders

[Brat]

Years ago the guy who cut my hair fell off a ladder when cleaning a gutter on his house and died. After that, we replaced our gutters with Leaf Guard gutters.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TriumphTR3fan I respectfully disagree that "ladders used by able persons of any age, are safe. The problem I see is that someone may not be aware that their able condition has changed."

+1000 My father spent considerable time working as an emergency room surgeon and said he was SO tired of treating so many older people who wouldn't admit to themselves that they were no longer kids, and had consequently been seriously injured after falling off a ladder, or had a heart attack while mowing the lawn.

Anyone who knew my father would agree that he had many faults but his medical judgment wasn't one of them. So, now that I am older I don't climb ladders or mow the lawn. Not being destitute, it doesn't kill me to hire someone to do these things and I sincerely believe that this markedly increases my life expectancy.

[Boho]

One safety measure I intend to take is avoid having two hands in the air while looking up when I'm standing on a platform with nothing to lean against. Having my full foot on a platform as opposed to my partial foot on a ladder step is nice, but not necessarily enough. After watching a lot of drywall videos in preparation to smooth out a botched ceiling (botched by a pro a long time ago), I decided not to use a screed. A screed would require me to keep both hands on it and reach up while making long strokes. I'll stick with a drywall knife and use my other arm for balance. I could probably avoid a ladder all together. One video showed something you could attach to a poll to smooth drywall mud. Then I could sand it. And I could apply it with a roller.