Destroy All Unsafe Ladders

[will 2]

I know some bosses that would say, "30 sec with a sawzall will turn that POS 10' into a decent 8'."

[i_got_ideas]

Originally posted by will 2
I know some bosses that would say, "30 sec with a sawzall will turn that POS 10' into a decent 8'."

I know several as well

[dairyman]

I fell off a 6 ft fiberglass ladder in november. Had a compound fracture of my left wrist. Told the Dr that my shoulder hurt worse then my wrist---said lets get the wrist done first. Two months later they did a MIR on my shoulder and found a rotary cuff tear. Just had that fixed 6 weeks ago and now doing the therapy thing. Havent slept in the bed since the surgery. Me and the recliner are the best of buds!!! This was a work comp thing --the boss told me last week we're up to $28,000 on the whole deal so far. Didn't miss much work but have been doing a lot of weight limited jobs. Fortunate!! At any rate just take your time and be careful,its your body and you have to live with the pain.

[spotts]

before I bought Dad out. I bet it only took a month to kill all the shaky ones. Bugged Dad bad, I'd say "Hey! New ladders are CHEAP compared to one of these guys in a hospital bed!" Actually I've tossed all kinds of old unsafe tools, buy earplugs, gloves, safety glasses, etc. by the case. No booties tho. Just can't bring myself to do it. I wonder what James BR549 wouls say about a tech in booties?

[bmf]

he should have known to toss that ladder himself

[spotts]

Originally posted by bmf
he should have known to toss that ladder himself

Hell- there was a bunch of them. Dad was from the "Make Due With What You Got" generation. I remember forcing him to buy a rotary hammer after I got a compression fracture in my spine from breaking concrete with a 6' piece of 1¼" rebar with one end barely sharpened. I'm 39, that was 18 or so years ago and I am reminded of that day everyday.

[Edited by spotts on 06-01-2004 at 06:32 PM]

[oil lp man]

6 foot long rebar as a chisel?
Now thats just plain dumb.

[spotts]

Originally posted by oil lp man
6 foot long rebar as a chisel?
Now thats just plain dumb.

Just grip it and rip it. No hammer, chisel weighed 30 lbs. It's in the bottom of the river now.

[bb]

Originally posted by spotts
I wonder what James BR549 wouls say about a tech in booties?

I'm not James but I can say it makes you look like a smurf.

[Diceman]

Originally posted by The Penguin
All this talk about bad ladders makes me think how lucky I was to fall 10 ft flat on my back and walk away with only sore back muscles for a day or two

Same thing happened to me, on cement, luckily I fell on my head.
I did take an ambulance ride but walked out of the ER, went to work the next day......but I am a tough guy doncha know.

[i_got_ideas]

Originally posted by bb

Originally posted by spotts
I wonder what James BR549 wouls say about a tech in booties?

I'm not James but I can say it makes you look like a smurf.

Screw booties....I wear nice slip-on Roper shoe-boots.

[icemeister]

Yeah, lucky for you that you didn't fall on anything really important.

Actually, when I think of going head first through the windshield of the old man's Caddy at 17 and walking away I guess it took me nearly another 40 years to realize how fragile we really are.

About five years ago I fell getting down from the top of an 8 ft walk-in box while attempting to use a 6 ft stepladder. That stupid move caused some of the biggest and nastiest set of bruises, aches and pains I had ever experienced, but I shook it off and limped around for a couple of weeks. I didn't really let that other me at the time all that much.....I just went on doing what I always did.

After falling off the ladder two months ago and breaking my back I have had a lot more opportunity to re-visit the issues of working safe. Now that I'm back working nearly full time, I still have some full-time reminders of my mishap.

The sooner we all realize how easily we can get seriously injured by not watching out for your own safety the better.

[midhvac]

I've got no excuse for not following ladder safety. I used to be the projectionist for the ladder safety films years ago.

But one day, in a big hurry, I did something really dumb. Working on an overhead heater about 12' off the ground, all I had was an extension ladder, so I hurriedly leaned the ladder against the heater.

When I got to the top, the unit turned sideways as the gas line elbow turned and there I was with nothing supporting the ladder!!!

TIMBER!!!

I decided to take my chances by jumping rather than going down with the ladder. Miraculously, I landed on my feet, but badly sprained my ankles, and am probably an inch shorter now