My terrible, horrible, miserable, not so very good day.

[oosik]

I did a short "stint" at a local HVAC manufacturing plant. The "kids" would "walk" the ladders. The very worse accident I've ever had - having a "walked" ladder collapse under me. As soon as I got out of the hospital - I quit that job. NOBODY needs that sort of crap.

They stood around laughing at me while I was lying there, waiting for the paramedics. They were lucky - if I could have gotten up - I'd have shown them that this old fart had nothing to loose. There would have been a couple more taking the trip to the hospital with me.

 

[two_bit_score]

^^ Buzzards, Eagles, Coyotes, other scavengers .....

Circle of life.

Glad to hear you arent hurt badly and seems you will be ok!

My favorite step ladder is a 1A Fiberglass tripod ladder. That thing is solid as a rock. Wide steps and very sturdy.


Take care and follow Dr. Orders.

 

[Racenut]

I had to go to work, but I got nothin on that. You win. Glad it wasn't any worse.

 

[tjkubota93]

Op- I dont like wearing gloves, but for sheetmetal, get some cotton gloves that have a rubber coating.

Bunyip, I had my 3 ft step ladder pop 2 rivets and dump me off while doing crown mold yesterday.

Taco wagon driver, you worked with some real pos's. Anytime I have been around an accident, even the school bully acts nice.

 

[goeduck]

Glad to hear you arent hurt badly and seems you will be ok!

My favorite step ladder is a 1A Fiberglass tripod ladder. That thing is solid as a rock. Wide steps and very sturdy.


Take care and follow Dr. Orders.

Tripod ladders are the only way to go on uneven surfaces, outdoors etc.

 

[oosik]

I'm just so very glad to hear that Diggin iT is on the mend. When I worked at the local HAVC plant - flesh cuts from freshly cut sheet metal were a common, everyday occurrence.
A short story of how things went at this HAVC plant. We all used the big HD Milwaukee magnetic drills. Attach - push the button - off they go. We were TOLD - time and time again - NEVER wear gloves when using these big drills. Well - one of the "kids" got his gloved hand wrapped around the drill bit/chuck of one of the drills. His pain was so intense - he crapped his pants. One of the young bucks had a brilliant idea. Rather than carefully removing the gloved hand from the drill - this brilliant SOB decided it would be a lot quicker to just reverse the drill. It wrapped the kids hand in reverse around the drill in the other way. The poor fellow instantly passed out.

When all was said and done - the drill had pulled five of the fellows finger joints completely loose/apart. He was sent to a specialist in Seattle for repair. He never came back to work. My understanding - the fellow eventually regained about 40% use of the hand.

 

[MossRoad]

I will never use an extension ladder without it being tied off preventing the bottom from sliding out or something else to prevent that.
I also never climb a stepladder without testing the feet to make sure they have firm footing and the feet aren't sitting cockeyed. Cheap ladders are bad for that.

Never ceases to amaze me, how quickly we fall. Maybe we watch too much TV where falling is always shown in slow motion.

I did a lot of quite dangerous ladder and other lift devices, work yesterday. I wondered a few times if any one ever had a heart attack or other debilitating emergency on a ladder. I'm getting too old for this stuff!

About 23-24 years ago our neighbor was working for a cable TV company. He was up on an extension ladder and had a heart attack. People saw him hanging up there on the ladder and called EMS. They assumed he was electrocuted, so they had to wait for the power company to arrive and cut power. Took a long time to get to him. Fortunately, or unfortunately, they found he had a massive heart attack and died up there pretty much instantly, so at least he most likely never knew what hit him.

 

[MossRoad]

I've had a 6' step ladder slip out from under me one time when I leaned just a bit too far to the side. BLINK! WHAM! Happens in an instant. Lesson learned.... don't lean off a ladder. Move the ladder instead, if at all possible.

About 15 years ago my mother-in-law was using an extension ladder to put up Christmas lights. She was coming down, thought she was on the last step and stepped off to the side. She wasn't on the last step, she was on the 2nd to last step. Came down hard and snapped the ball off her femur! Had to get a partial hip replacement. Never walked the same since.

 

[CobyRupert]

Here's a 2017 chart from National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) for the top 10 leading causes of Injury Deaths by Age.
Over the age of 15, falling is in the top ten. Over all ages, it's the #3 leading cause.
Age 55-64 it's the #4 top cause, after poisoning, guns, and traffic accidents.
When your over the age of 65, falling is the #1 cause of unintentional injury deaths.

 

[CobyRupert]

I will never use an extension ladder without it being tied off preventing the bottom from sliding out or something else to prevent that.
I also never climb a stepladder without testing the feet to make sure they have firm footing and the feet aren't sitting cockeyed. Cheap ladders are bad for that.

Never ceases to amaze me, how quickly we fall. ...

.. I wondered a few times if any one ever had a heart attack or other debilitating emergency on a ladder. I'm getting too old for this stuff!

My father died from falling from a ladder and having a heart attack; or he had a heart attack and fell from the ladder. I'm not sure the order. It doesn't matter.