Ladder Injuries

[Ronstar]

Nice view around your place.
Really funny to see you stop and tie your shoelace

Thanks. - A roof is not a good place to be running around with shoes untied.

 

[Koogie]

Speaking of.... another (horrible) anecdote about ladders.

Super Bowl Sunday 2009. I was in the garage trying to add insulation in the roof when DW came out to talk to me. I was on a stepladder, about 5 feet up.

I was startled. The ladder went one way and I went down the other onto the concrete floor. Wearing workboots that weren't laced up. Landed poorly and snapped my right lower leg bones and almost all the bones in my ankle. The sound was loud and nauseating.

My face bounced off the cement and I slowly became aware that someone was making moaning sounds. I looked back and my foot was pointing 180 degrees the wrong way, with the toe of my boot pointed at the ceiling.

Long story short*, I have about 15 titanium screws and three titanium plates holding my lower leg together. Knock on wood, it's been okay for the last 15 years. It aches when it gets super cold here in Canuckistan and if I bang that ankle against anything by accident the pain still makes my eyes water. But I run about 20 miles a week and cycle as well.

Moral ? Ladders can ruin you from a short height.



*the rest of the story includes the ambulance being crewed by two girls that couldn't lift me between them, the driveway being too snowy for a wheeled gurney so I had to hop to the ambulance, the local small town hospital not having another ambulance available to take me into the city for surgery so we had to take a taxi and then afterwards me discharging myself the next day after overnight surgery so I could get into work on Tuesday morning... smh at the stupidity of "youthful" me

 

[mountainsoft]

I'd take your relatives' experiences as the warning - and I'm sure they thought they were careful and attentive.

Their experiences will certainly make me more cautious, but in both cases the accidents could probably have been prevented. The first brother-in-law was probably over the ladders weight limit, leaned way beyond a comfortable reach, and probably didn't have the ladder setup correctly in the first place.

The brother-in-law who just fell set the ladder on unstable ground, and was reaching up above his head. He was only four feet off the ground, but landed right on his ribs on a mole hill. I've seen him do things on ladders in the past that made me cringe.

Any of us can make a mistake, but thankfully I have never had an issue with a ladder. I have always been extremely careful about getting the best quality ladders, taking time to set them up properly, and never reaching out too far. If I can't keep my core over the ladder, I climb down and move the ladder. No reaching.

I bought the best ladders available when we built our house. Never skimp on something your life depends on. Heck, I even bought a top of the line Gorilla step ladder for use in the house.

everything in life has risks, but ladders seem to have more of them that they are worth.

I agree, but good equipment, good preparation, and proper use can prevent the vast majority of accidents. I see so many people using ladders incorrectly, even the "professionals" on many building shows.

 

[pacergal]

My husband does not go up on ladders anymore, other than a short one in the garage to take down/put up holiday decorations.
Our neighbor is always up his trees, trimming, or on his 2 story roof doing something.
Makes me nervous to see him, but he is a retired fireman, so I guess he knows what he is doing.

 

[Sunset]

Sometimes it's hard to avoid going up a ladder.
Here I am cutting off some tree limbs. I did tie the ladder to the tree so it wouldn't slip, and used a bow saw instead of my chainsaw.

Last month, I got a fall harness, as I know I have some other high stuff to do. Should really have had one all those times I worked on a roof

 

[Sunset]

...
Our neighbor is always up his trees, trimming, or on his 2 story roof doing something.
Makes me nervous to see him, but he is a retired fireman, so I guess he knows what he is doing.

My neighbor, a retired pizza oven designer makes me cringe as he goes up on his roof to blow out the gutters, especially when he is over the driveway which is concrete, he doesn't use a rope and his house is 2 stories.

 

[pjigar]

I always try to use A frame ladder on a level surface. There sturdy kind: Little Giant is my favorite. I never use a ladder for any tree/shrub maintenance (a branch can knock it off, leaning too far by accident, etc.). I do any tree maintenance/trimming from a flat platform (UTV bed, Pallet over tractor forks, etc.) usually with a pole saw. I climb tree (using loader/pallet fork) if I am trimming large limbs.

 

[OldShooter]

I am generally a "no ladders" guy but I do use a three-step model of the Little Giant Safety Step ladder. (https://www.littlegiantladders.com/products/safety-step) Typically I am in the unfinished basement of our new lake home running network cable, etc. across the joists and snaking it up the pre-installed plastic conduit. I only need to stand on the second step. The thing I like about it is the stable handrail. It also works well for changing light bulbs, etc. upstairs where the ceiling is eight feet.

 

[Midpack]

I'd take your relatives' experiences as the warning - and I'm sure they thought they were careful and attentive.

The value/risk equation is too great for me or DH. I didn't retire early only to fall off a ladder and wreck myself. Sure, everything in life has risks, but ladders seem to have more of them that they are worth.

Step ladder, to reach the first story trim for lights. Anything higher? Hire someone.

At 69 yo I’m done with extension ladders I have to get off/on at the top. I still change light bulbs and smoke detector batteries from a ladder in double sided stepladder config (we have 12 foot ceilings), but I’m not going on our roof ever again. Getting off and on the ladder to the roof is the scariest part.

I worked with a guy who fell off his 1 story roof getting back on a ladder after clearing snow off his roof, and landed in his driveway - serious spinal injury. With no one there to help him (cell phones weren’t a thing yet), he crawled back in his house in dark, snow and cold, and by his account probably did most of the spinal damage from moving after the fall. He tried to come back to work but ended his career at age 51, could barely walk, and was dead at 60. Not what he had planned, and he died alone for the most part after pushing friends and family away. Very sad and unplanned ending.

 

[old medic]

Speaking of.... another (horrible) anecdote about ladders.
Super Bowl Sunday
*the rest of the story includes the ambulance

OH the Ambulance stories I could tell......

This one involves a Ladder on Superbowl Sunday. A bunch of family gathered for Gameday. 3 generations, Grandma and Grandpa flown in from out of town. Lots of stuff going on inside as the weather was fairly cold. As the Game gets ready to start, they can't find Grandpa... figured he went to take a nap. Well a quick search they found him outside in the back yard. He had pulled out a ladder and cut a limb out of a tree that had been mentioned during the visit. All indications looked like he died instantly and had been there a couple hours.

A happier Ladder story involves my Grandfather....
One fall day as I pass their house on my way home.... I spot my 84 YO GF kneeling at the edge of his roof cleaning out gutters.... I bow up in the road and go back.... Get him to stop and I finish up... Told him it was a great idea and borrow his ladder to do ours... (NO... I took his ladder away) After that any time he needed to do something, he would call to BORROW his ladder, and I would go take care of whatever and give an excuse to bring the ladder back home .... Problem solved.......

UNTIL..... a few years later... believe he was 88.... I drive by to again find him on the roof.... I stop, grandma is having a fit... He got tired of BORROWING his own ladder, and went and bought a new one....

I still have both...

 

[REWahoo]

A happier Ladder story involves my Grandfather....
One fall day as I pass their house on my way home.... I spot my 84 YO GF kneeling at the edge of his roof cleaning out gutters.... I bow up in the road and go back.... Get him to stop and I finish up... Told him it was a great idea and borrow his ladder to do ours... (NO... I took his ladder away) After that any time he needed to do something, he would call to BORROW his ladder, and I would go take care of whatever and give an excuse to bring the ladder back home .... Problem solved.......

UNTIL..... a few years later... believe he was 88.... I drive by to again find him on the roof.... I stop, grandma is having a fit... He got tired of BORROWING his own ladder, and went and bought a new one....

I still have both...

^ Great story!

 

[athena53]

I worked with a guy who fell off his 1 story roof getting back on a ladder after clearing snow off his roof, and landed in his driveway - serious spinal injury. With no one there to help him (cell phones weren’t a thing yet), he crawled back in his house in dark, snow and cold, and by his account probably did most of the spinal damage from moving after the fall.

That's why I never do high-ladder work without someone around. I remember changing a light bulb in the bathroom ceiling when DS and DDIL visited; it was my small granddaughters who stood intently at the bottom of the ladder to "protect" me! I just wanted to make sure that if I fell, some responsible adults could call 911.

I don't think anyone should be doing high ladder work alone. Many years ago, the son of friends, in his late 20s and in great physical condition, was renovating his house alone when he fell off a ladder and into a window. He bled out from injuries caused by the shards of glass. He might have been saved if someone had been there.

 

[mystang52]

My rule: anything that requires me to get on anything more than a step ladder and more than 3 feet off the ground, I hire someone else to do, or buy some tool will a looong pole that allows me to perform the task .

Last year I did volunteer duty that included painting a room with very high ceilings, I told the folks I was happy to paint anything as long as my feet did not leave the ground. They got a couple of fearless 20-something year olds to go up the ladders to deal with anything else .

Yes, ladder climbing was one of the first things to give me pause in my 50-ies. I'll still do some of it but definitely more selective these days.

A subject near and dear to me! 24 years ago I was 47, doing a small patch job on the roof of my house. When it was time to come down that 25 foot ladder, I was in sheer terror. I got down without incident (my son was stabilizing the ladder) but that was literally the last time I was on that ladder.
It was also the last time I got on anything taller than a step ladder; I just don't trust myself, and sure as heck don't want to risk injury.

 

[Lisa99]

A friend fell off a ladder painting a two story vaulted ceiling. She broke her leg so badly that she had a plate, pins and rods for about 3 months and now walks with a limp.

She was on the ladder because she'd been asking her husband to do it and he kept saying he would but didn't follow through. They had family coming for Christmas so she got tired of asking and did it herself. Not sure exactly how that conversation went after she got out of surgery but it couldn't have been pleasant.

 

[braumeister]

I think at this point I have to relate my ladder story.

In a previous house, I wanted to install a ceiling fan in the living room. This was a bit of an unusual house and the ceiling was very high. I was about 60 at the time.

I had a 12 foot stepladder, but it wasn't nearly tall enough, so I took a bunch of cinder blocks and stacked four of them under each of the feet of the ladder. Then of course I needed another smaller ladder to get up high enough to step onto the big ladder. My poor dear wife was absolutely beside herself and begged me to come to my senses, but I decided it was OK.

Carried the fan up and got it installed, and the whole time she was holding the phone preparing to dial 911. Nothing happened, and it was never a problem in my mind, but she has never let me forget about it. Nor should she.

 

[REWahoo]

Nor should she.

Three little words that rank very close in importance to another famous three little words...

 

[aja8888]

Three little words that rank very close in importance to another famous three little words...

Let me guess..."Rest in Peace"?

 

[Jerry1]

Let me guess..."Rest in Peace"?

Hold my beer?

 

[Fermion]

I mean, honestly, a ladder is just a tool and can be used safely if you know what you are doing and understand physics.

I am going to guess that 90% of the accidents involve someone using the ladder improperly, such as not having good, stable points of contact with the surface it is on, climbing higher than maximum recommended step on the ladder, and not knowing how center of gravity works (ie, leaning so much that you shift it significantly).


You can get hurt with a lot of things if you don't know how to use them properly.

 

[Time2]

I'm all for not using ladders, I just need to convince my wife my ladder days are over (I'm 66) and I need to convince her to stay off of ladders. We just reinstalled a carport after a tornado and of course I was up an a ladder building the carport. 5 years ago after Hurricane Michael we had to build another carport, that time I did tip a step ladder side way, I made a one armed swing on the beam and then fell to the concrete. It was a about 6 ft drop and I was OK, but not interested in a second time.
I searched for a picture of my wife standing on the top step of a 6ft ladder, I didn't find it, but I can't convince her to stop. Her garden and greenhouse is most important to her.

 

[Ronstar]

I think at this point I have to relate my ladder story.

In a previous house, I wanted to install a ceiling fan in the living room. This was a bit of an unusual house and the ceiling was very high. I was about 60 at the time.

I had a 12 foot stepladder, but it wasn't nearly tall enough, so I took a bunch of cinder blocks and stacked four of them under each of the feet of the ladder. Then of course I needed another smaller ladder to get up high enough to step onto the big ladder. My poor dear wife was absolutely beside herself and begged me to come to my senses, but I decided it was OK.

Carried the fan up and got it installed, and the whole time she was holding the phone preparing to dial 911. Nothing happened, and it was never a problem in my mind, but she has never let me forget about it. Nor should she.

Good to know. Next time I change ceiling fans, all I’ll need are some cinder blocks. One can learn a lot on this forum.

 

[aja8888]

Good to know. Next time I change ceiling fans, all I’ll need are some cinder blocks. One can learn a lot on this forum.

You can make the stacked cinder blocks safer if you mortar them together.

 

[skyking1]

My brother gifted me a set of scaffolding. I have added to it. It has screw legs and wheel sets, and is the ticket for whatever we need to do up high. My friends and I use it on any construction jobs.

That said, it won't be enough to do the house job. I won't use jacks and planks to side the house, I can get scaffolding front and back for ~$1000 for a month and have a nice safe place to work off of for the siding, windows and paint.
If I need to I will rent one of these for a week, rather than anything sketchy with a ladder.

$975 a week and only 2 weeks money for 4 weeks, $1950
This is one place where I do not consider it BTD.
I can afford 5K on the house build to stay safe. I can't afford the alternative.
If any of you have some high job outside that "you just gotta do", rent one of these.
$284 for a half day and $379 a day.

 

[gutterman]

As my user name gives away I used to have a business installing seamless gutters. At one point we had a dozen men working for us. All of our accidents were from an improperly placed ladder, standing on the top step of a step ladder, or reaching too far when you should move the ladder instead. The best tips I learned was 1) when using an extension ladder outside, dig holes with the claw of your hammer to put the ladder feet in to level it or to keep it from kicking out. 2)When working on a flat surface like a deck or floor with an extension ladder, have someone stand on the bottom of the ladder. 3) Respect that sticker on your step ladder that says "Do not stand here or higher" 4) If you're scared don't do it.

 

[Ronstar]

You can make the stacked cinder blocks safer if you mortar them together.

yes, and maybe some rebar.


This thread reminds me of another ladder related injury. Our bedroom has a 12' or so high ceiling (Thus the need for cinder blocks) with a circle top window. I had painted the circle top window trim, and was using a razor blade knife to remove dried paint from the window.

Somehow I lost my grip on the knife. It fell and perfectly lodged itself blade first into my left hand. I didn't fall, but needed some stitches.