Using bucket as work platform.

[scott_vt]

Falling off a loader and being hurt is certainly an issue. So is falling off a ladder or down stairs. All can kill, but usually arent serious and dont reach the statistics. You just treat the situation with more respect in order to minimize the inherent dangers.
Larry

Mornin Larry,
I got a call yesterday from my buddy who is a volunteer fireman in our town along with being a member of our firehouse building committee. It seems that our general contractor who is doing the addition to our firehouse was cleaning leaves from his gutters at home. You guessed it, the ladder slipped and he fell breaking his hip and leg ! He is now in a local hospital in traction for many weeks ! What a way to spend Christmas !

Being the chairman of the building committee, Im guessing that this will seriously impact our completion date Im sure everyone in the firehouse will be understanding

Maybe he would have been better off in the bucket !

 

[Soundguy]

Its only a word, and I dont mind being called "insane".
Some ask if I surrer from my insainity? I reply I enjoy ever minute of it.

Isn't it a billy joel song that says something like... " I may be crazy.. but then maybee that's what you're looking for..."

Soundguy

 

[rback33]

Mornin Larry,
I got a call yesterday from my buddy who is a volunteer fireman in our town along with being a member of our firehouse building committee. It seems that our general contractor who is doing the addition to our firehouse was cleaning leaves from his gutters at home. You guessed it, the ladder slipped and he fell breaking his hip and leg ! He is now in a local hospital in traction for many weeks ! What a way to spend Christmas !

Being the chairman of the building committee, Im guessing that this will seriously impact our completion date Im sure everyone in the firehouse will be understanding

Maybe he would have been better off in the bucket !

I fell off a roof once cleaning leaves, but it was because I was not only careless, but plain stupid. What moron uses a garden hose to spray out gutters in FRONT of him while walking across wood shake shingles. Took me about 5 minutes to find the express route to the ground. I was about 17 at the time and it was only about ten feet to the ground, but the mulched area around the house was bordered by RR ties.. I was VERY lucky not to get hurt. The worst part was.... there was no else around... they were out planting Milo or something. Now I don't share this story to sound macho, but rather to point out that we have evaluate or methods and do our own risk assessment. As a dumb teenager I did none of that and was lucky to not do anything other than scare the crap outta myself. This brings me to my new dilemma. I am having guttering installed on my own house this week or next. My eaves around the main part of the house are a good 25 feet off the ground and the pitch is such that you cannot access them from the roof without tying off. There will be no choice but to clean them from a ladder and I am NOT looking forward to that. My perceived risk weighs VERY heavy when it comes down to cleaning those things out .. maybe I should get gutter helmets? anyone use those?

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Rback33,
On my Ct house I have plastic screened guards that do a fair job of keeping the crap out of the gutters.

On the Vt house, no gutters, no problems !

Those Gutter Helmets, look like they work good in the TV commercials !

Good Luck !

 

[N80]

I don't like doing gutters. My house is also a good 25' in the rear. Pitch of the roof is pretty shallow, but I still get nervous. I've done it from the ladder and from up on the roof. Stinks both ways. The only thing I hate worse than an extension ladder is a pitched roof. I've never fallen and never been hurt. Several folks here say that isn't proof that it isn't dangerous....I agree. I also admit that my risk assessment in regard to gutter cleaning is probably flawed. But, it scares me. So I don't do it anymore. I pay a licensed, bonded and insured professional to do it. I'm happy as a clam as he walks away from my clean gutters with 75 of my dollars for about 30 minutes of work.

 

[firemanpat2910]

if you have a pressure washer get an extension and a gutter cleaning attatchment,and stay on the ground and do it. I have been on many wet slippery roofs, with rubber boots on, but I always have an axe in my hand and dont mind using it if I start to slide. " Just looking for hidden fire chief!"

 

[SPYDERLK]

I always try to hold onto the gutter with one hand so I can immediately arrest the ladder slipping sideways. This seems near foolproof iff the gutter isnt rickety and the ladder has good footing. Holding onto the gutter thru the ladder would be even better.
Larry

 

[Bedlam]

And one use the ladder stabilizers that attach to the ladder?

 

[SPYDERLK]

Thank you for the pertinent review of statistics. It is certainly food for thot. After doing a lot of thinking about it however, my predominating Hmmm is how a naturally and prudentlycautious person could be pushed over the edge into paranoid behavior by the 100% probability of death in a lifetime. The problem with actuarial tables and risk is that they dont account for the specific livers perception of it and influence over it. The actuarial gotchas are predominantly populated by those who risk foolishly or ambitiously. Those that dont, make up a high % of those who survive the risk. These people populate the risk and an error is made in assuming that they participate in it fully. Like, Im pretty sure statistics for dieing by lightning include people on golf courses and other high risk areas. Accidents on ladders include overweight people as well as those on them for the 1st time. Etc. Your statement - - "This leaves plenty of "WIGGLE" room for the person who likes to think they are special, lead a charmed life, or are inherently especially lucky and feel they will beat the odds because they are well, not like the others but are somehow special. Many of us have these feelings to varying degrees but somehow the actuary tables, recording FACT, don't seem to reveal these specially blessed risk takers as different from the rest of us." - - is a bit too sensational I think.
There are many reasons for risk. They all have to do with some perceived gain. The novice-particularly when young- and the foolish, altho quite different, fit into similar categories. Thrill seekers another. Those who swell the ranks of the survivors fit into a recognition and respect category. Those who dont risk have their own problem.
Its a fearful life if you let it.
Larry

 

[Dusty]

I always try to hold onto the gutter with one hand so I can immediately arrest the ladder slipping sideways. This seems near foolproof iff the gutter isnt rickety and the ladder has good footing. Holding onto the gutter thru the ladder would be even better.
Larry

Or better yet, stand in the bucket while your wife operates the controls...

 

[N80]

If they removed the seatbelts and replaced the airbag with an 8 inch steel spike pointed at the driver's chest you wouldn't need the seatbelts, the airbags...or even stop lights for that matter.

 

[TomKioti]

If they removed the seatbelts and replaced the airbag with an 8 inch steel spike pointed at the driver's chest you wouldn't need the seatbelts, the airbags...or even stop lights for that matter.

LOL...THAT was funny!

 

[SPYDERLK]

If they removed the seatbelts and replaced the airbag with an 8 inch steel spike pointed at the driver's chest you wouldn't need the seatbelts, the airbags...or even stop lights for that matter.

I would use a hacksaw or grinder.
Larry

 

[Dusty]

If they removed the seatbelts and replaced the airbag with an 8 inch steel spike pointed at the driver's chest you wouldn't need the seatbelts, the airbags...or even stop lights for that matter.

That is exactly what the old cars were like prior to 1967 with the introduction of the collapsible steering column.
Dusty

 

[patrick_g]

N80, And by extension you could see how some steel spikes surrounding the tractor seat would be way cheaper than a reliable ROPS.

Pat

 

[mike69440]

I figured I was really clever, (I am) and engineered a very nice manlift / workbench that fit securely in the bucket of my then brand new L-39. With the L-39 stabilizers and the interlock edge of my lift catching on the reversible edge of the bucket, the lift was very safe. The lift even had a chain to catch the bucket hook for redundancy. The L39 Hydraulics can be locked out on the joystick.

I used the lift to change second story windows. The lift would get my feet 9'8" off ground and at 6'-3" I could reach up to 17 plus feet.

All well and good.

I hate to paint. The then to be wife was putting a fresh coat of paint on her home prior to putting it on the market.

So what do we do?

The peak of her house was about 25' and the siding around the chimney even higher.

I had a digital picture of her on an industrial quality 16' folding multi- configuration extension ladder standing second step from the top, stepladder on the manlift at full height so she could get the last part of the darn chimney siding painted reaching God knows how far off the ground.

I accidentally erased the photo.

The ladder was tied off to the workbench part of the manlift and quite steady.

But all she had to do is slip, etc. and down she would have gone, feet 16' off the ground.

Foolish me for helping her get up there. It was my idea to use the ladder but just to get up another 2' or so as she still had the workbench of the manlift and the ladder to hold onto.

But she kept getting bolder and going higher.

Finally she called it quits after getting a little height fright and came down.

I'll take and get another photo posted of the manlift. It's neat.

My manlift is much safer and useful than a ladder or staging. But used the way we used it was just plain stupid! We are lucky idiots that she did not fall.

 

[N80]

Mike, I'm not sure I see anywhere in your post how you have figured how to prevent the bucket from dropping if the hydraulics fail. That is _the_ issue. And I'm sure you know that the 'lock' on the joystick only actually locks the joystick.

 

[mike69440]

Mike, I'm not sure I see anywhere in your post how you have figured how to prevent the bucket from dropping if the hydraulics fail. That is _the_ issue. And I'm sure you know that the 'lock' on the joystick only actually locks the joystick.

I acknowledge that danger, however I fear taking a dive off a ladder more than the hydraulic failure, as the hyraulic are more reialble than my balance.

Also the construction of my manlift would prevent the loader from droping as long as the mainlft was butted up against the side of a building, even if the bucket curl failed.

If I ever need to get over 13' on the manilift, I would build a a second tier platform with railing on the existing lift, or hire someone with insurance.

I also do not move the tractor with anyone up in the man lift.