stupid ladders

mine decided it didnt wanna be under me anymore and i took a dive onto my front patio hand rail.. nothin broken, but bruised the hell outta my right chest wall.

Ouch! Sounds like a lucky/good save at least.

8' or so is my personal limit for a ladder, and about 12' on scaffolding.

Oof, hurts just to read that. Glad you weren't seriously hurt.

Margie

Yeargh! Glad to hear you're going to be okay, but yeah, sorry for the pain and soreness. And once again I'm reminded of why I don't like the things very much. Spent a lot of time being very tense while roofing the garage...

Good to hear you're okay. Every once in a while I don't see the mirror on my wife's trailblazer and I clock my ribs into it.

Your butt made the 'whhhhhhhhhuuuh" sound didn't it?

So what did you do wrong? I have had to take several classes in ladder, lift, and climbing safety, If the ladder came out from under you, it's feet must have been too far from the place it was leaning on.

I am glad you did not get seriously hurt though

petegossett wrote: Ouch! Sounds like a lucky/good save at least. 8' or so is my personal limit for a ladder, and about 12' on scaffolding.

so doing my job is right out? I walk (yes, walk) truss about 30 to 40 feet in the air focusing lights. It is my niche specialty in the theatre.

As for ladders.. what did you do wrong? I have had to take several classes in ladder, lift, and climbing safety, If the ladder came out from under you, it's feet must have been too far from the place it was leaning on.

I am glad you did not get seriously hurt though

i did a stupid, and i will admit it..i only fell about 4 feet.. but landing on a hand rail coupled with my 300 pounds.. well, lets just leave it at that.

In reply to mad_machine:

If the truss is steady and has well-secured handrails I'd be ok, and if the ladder was secure and steady I could climb up fine too. I might not be able to get back down thought.

It's not the hight its self that bothers me - I did the Sky Box(or whatever it's called) at the Sears Tower(or whatever it's called now), and that didn't bother me at all. And I actually love to climb, I just freak out if I'm unsecured above a certain height...and about 12' is max.

Sounds painful to me.

Much soreness today for sure. Glad you didn't do any serious damage.

Dont be too hard on yourself. It was really gravity's fault.

petegossett wrote: Ouch! Sounds like a lucky/good save at least. 8' or so is my personal limit for a ladder, and about 12' on scaffolding.

You should try a 150' radio tower. In January.

petegossett wrote: 8' or so is my personal limit for a ladder, and about 12' on scaffolding.

I've been about 35' up a ladder before, indoors, but with someone supporting the bottom. Helps to have good balance as you get higher up.

Ouch. Glad it was no worse than that.

OBTW: there is no gravity, the Earth sucks.

In my installing days, I spent a lot of time on ladders. Worst adventure was on a fully extended 24' ladder adjusting an outdoor PTZ camera, at night. My boss had set the ladder up. My first mistake was not checking it. I scrambled up to do my work, and the latches that keep the ladder up failed. Not set properly. Bossman freaked when he realized what was happening, and held the ladder in his hands to help. Bad idea. As the second section came down it cut his hands badly. For me, the fun part was the landing. Thought I broke both legs, but wound up only being two badly sprained ankles. Could not walk for a while. Worst part was that my wife was there to help. She took quite a fright.

Consider yourself lucky - you could be my friend's father...

He is around 70yrs old and decided to clean the gutters by himself, alone. The ladder kicked out and he fell about 18' feet, face first onto the ladder, on a concrete patio. Where he stayed for about 2hrs until his wife came home.

He compound fractured both arms. Broke his jaw. CRUSHED his eye sockets and a cheekbone as well as shattering his collar bone. 5hrs of surgery, metal eye sockets, wired jaw, full torso cast, and two or more trips under the knife to go.... be careful out there folks. Never climb alone.

petegossett wrote: In reply to mad_machine: If the truss is steady and has well-secured handrails I'd be ok, and if the ladder was secure and steady I could climb up fine too. I might not be able to get back down thought.

no, no and no. The Truss I walk is suspended by three chain motors, so it sways and swings. It has a single aircraft cable hung about 2 feet above it for a safety harness to click into, and you have to climb up a wire rope ladder to get to it.

mad_machine wrote: no, no and no. The Truss I walk is suspended by three chain motors, so it sways and swings. It has a single aircraft cable hung about 2 feet above it for a safety harness to click into, and you have to climb up a wire rope ladder to get to it.

You are like a pirate. Do you ever swashbuckle up there?

I once rode a cheesy aluminum stepladder (not mine--I don't buy cheap ladders) to the ground. It was placed on soft dirt ( by me, DOH!). The foot (an un-capped aluminum extrusion) slipped into the ground and pitched the ladder to one side. The other side promptly folded up under me (remarkable, as I am only about 175 lbs.) As scary and painful as the experience was, I was very lucky in that I was only a few rungs off the ground and the landing was in dirt, although I almost hit my head on a capped PVC pipe sticking up, which would have made the whole experience even less fun.

I am often on extension ladders to clean gutters and hang Christmas lights, and that experience is always there to remind me to be extra careful.

mine was propped up against a 4x4 post.. i leaned i slipped and i came a tumblin down.. never realized how often those muscles and there area is really used.. bend, turn, twist.. ya not a fan right now.. Dr said be about 2 weeks, even though luckily nothin is broken...

Curmudgeon wrote: Ouch. Glad it was no worse than that. OBTW: there is no gravity, the Earth sucks.

almost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanding_Earth

Hope you recover soon, I cringed just reading that!

I fell off a ladder a few years back when I was clearing snow/ice off our roof. I took a step down, my boot slid out completely because the rung below was covered in ice, momentum took over, and down I went. Luckily, I didn't fall far as there was a snowbank there. Unfortunately, the snowbank did not consist of soft, fluffy snow - but it could have been far worse. I just missed a 3' round boulder and the stairs off the sliding glass door.

I got up, checked around to see if my wife saw me fall, and then headed back up to finish the job. I now am extra careful to make sure I have good footing whenever I start moving down a ladder.

just remember on ladder safety. The Body is top heavy. It only takes 4 feet for you to compleatly invert and go head first. Ex-Coworker of mine did that.. fell six feet and broke his neck. Spent a year in a halo.. but thankfully, other than neck pain, has no lasting ill effects. He will take the pain over feeling nothing at all

Be careful with ladders. The last time I used one resulted in this:

Hal wrote: Be careful with ladders. The last time I used one resulted in this:

No offense, but you appear to have a screw loose!