Ladders, you skeered?

[feralmerril]

I had a close boy hood friend. He was from a huge fatherless family of I think 8 or 9 boys and one girl. I was friends with about the 4 youngest. All were well built like acrobats and the main family occupation seemed to be window washers on high rise`s. One of the older brothers fell to his death from 8 story's in Milwaukee back in the 50`s. That didn't stop the rest. One had a high rise window washing business in San Diego. He fell to his death too in 1986. Oddly not on the job but at home trimming a palm tree in his front yard. He was high up with a chainsaw. I dont know what went wrong but he fell with the chainsaw running. I dont know which killed him, the fall, the saw or both. I went to the funeral. He was a mess. Quite a few years ago he fell I believe they said 3 or 4 story's doing windows at a hospital in Minneapolis. He broke both ankles on that one and the nurses pulled him in. Every day was a drama with that family.

 

[sureshotbob]

I work on some sort of ladder almost every day, from 2' "Step" ladders up to using "The BEAST", a 40' fiberglass extension. The most used ladder I own is a 4' "A" frame ladder.

I own, erect and use my own scaffolding. I'm an OSHA certified scaffold erector and moveable man-lift, scissor lift, extension boom lift and articulating knuckle boom lift operator.

Even with all the safety training I've had I've been hurt by a ladder a couple of times and hurt once by a collapsing scaffold tower when a fork truck driver knocked over a pallet rack into the scaffold.

Heights don't bother me.

I'm not scared of ladders or scaffolding, BUT I do respect them.

Class III

As a licensed sprinkler fitter I also fit into the above post.
You just need to take your time and be careful.

 

[99savage308]

At 62 I'm still climbing no big deal. but i do it safely

 

[mtgianni]

I have been working off of ladders most of my life. I don't really like them but can tell what is safe or not and refuse to climb a rickety set up.

 

[venomballistics]

scared to death of em.
every time I have used one I ended up slathered in pain, full of splinters or thorns and stiff and sore for three days ... ladders mean accumulating pain

 

[CWH44300]

I've spent most of my adult life, off the ground. Ladders can be very dangerous when not setup properly. As one poster mentioned getting back on, can be tricky! Here's the view from the top of a 30 story building in Boston, we were doing some structural repairs to the penthouses iron.

 

[Squarebutt]

I graduated from ladders to swing stages.
You get great views from the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower on the outside.

Me, too. And from boom lifts 150" over downtown Boston. And window-washer baskets. Started with rope swings. Didn't care for them much. Moved on to metal/electric-powered Spiders and Skyclimbers. It's quite a rush when you bolt a swing stage together yourself and then step off a roof 100+ feet in the air to ride up and down the walls. Did hot-tar roofing when I was 16, leaning over the edge to catch buckets of boiling asphalt as they hoisted it up. No harness, no guard rail, no OSHA. We cleaned some tall chimneys for weekend work.
I'm OK with ladders, with the exception of any made of wood. Had too many rungs fail at a bad moment.
The secret to all of it is to be a little paranoid and decide what is safe, what is mostly safe, and what might kill ya. Murphy's Law is merciless at heights. Three guys I had worked with went on to get killed in falls on other jobs and another was electrocuted when a thunderstorm popped up and he hit the switch on an ungrounded electric climber motor.

 

[CWH44300]

Me, too. And from boom lifts 150" over downtown Boston. And window-washer baskets. Started with rope swings. Didn't care for them much. Moved on to metal/electric-powered Spiders and Skyclimbers. It's quite a rush when you bolt a swing stage together yourself and then step off a roof 100+ feet in the air to ride up and down the walls. Did hot-tar roofing when I was 16, leaning over the edge to catch buckets of boiling asphalt as they hoisted it up. No harness, no guard rail, no OSHA. We cleaned some tall chimneys for weekend work.
I'm OK with ladders, with the exception of any made of wood. Had too many rungs fail at a bad moment.
The secret to all of it is to be a little paranoid and decide what is safe, what is mostly safe, and what might kill ya. Murphy's Law is merciless at heights. Three guys I had worked with went on to get killed in falls on other jobs and another was electrocuted when a thunderstorm popped up and he hit the switch on an ungrounded electric clin.ber motor.

That's some crazy work you guys do. Those lifts can be hairy too. I've never liked going up in the real tall lifts on the outside of a building after its been enveloped, I feel a lot more comfortable if the building is not closed in. I haven't been on a swing staging in years. We where putting metal siding on a powerhouse around 140' tall, it was quite the experience. Do you recognize the building in my photos?

 

[feralmerril]

Maybe part of the reason I dont like heights is I fell out of a trap door in a hay mow when I was about 5 years old. It split my skull open all the way across. (Yeah I know that it explains it!) When I was a guard I had to escort some contract workers to do some work in our highest hanger. We went to the top of the roof and I unlocked the roof hatch so they could go down the ladder and do their thing. I dont know the height but the workers in the hanger far below looked small. I was scared. It seemed the opening was drawing me like a magnet! There was something about being on a roof and looking down a narrow ladder with just a few inches between me and oblivion. I had a flash back to that hay mow I fell through where the opening also seemed to draw me like a magnet.
Thank God it takes special qualifications for men to do various jobs that others cant or wont do. There is usually some nut that isn't bothered by the job. I guess every person has things they couldn't or wouldn't do for love nor money but usually we also have things we will do that most others wont do. That`s why it takes all kinds to populate and build on this earth.

 

[labworm]

I have a two family, 1st and second floor.

House painting or repairs is something I gladly pay for, I sure am not going up there. Age has changed my opinion of height, just don't enjoy being way up there looking down anymore.