Careful with ladders!
 

I'd like to ask everyone to be careful with their use of ladders! I had a bad fall last Wednesday (9/1) and have since heard of others with ladder accidents. I figured I was a professional and took adequate care in use of a ladder as I use them quite a bit in the orchard on my farm. I've mostly used 12' orchard ladders but bought a 16' one earlier this year to get higher up large chestnut trees.

My wife and I recently bought a second residence and I was cutting down a sick tree in the back yard, taking care to avoid having branches fall on a storage building of the neighbor. I was standing 12' above the ground and trying to remove a branch I had just cut with my chainsaw (thankfully, I had already handed my chainsaw to my helper). In hindsight, I should have had him hold the ladder, but that would have subjected him to the risk of falling branches. My ladder lost balance faster than I can even now believe. I fell very quickly against the edge of the roof of the neighbor's storage shed and then to the ground, hitting my head quite hard on a concrete stepping stone. My worker said it sounded like a bowling ball being dropped and that I had done a 360 flip in the air. I had the wind knocked out of me and was in considerable pain and couldn't answer my helper's questions about where I hurt, etc. for a minute or so. I did eventually feel good enough to want to try to stand up but quickly felt faint so had help getting back down and had my helper call 911. After a lengthy ER visit and cat scans from my head down to my thighs, I was released with no broken bones or internal injuries. I'm bruised up very badly and have pains in my right hip, left knee, left chest, and left shoulder. I saw my primary doctor 5 days after the accident and he suspects a torn meniscus in my knee and some other possible injuries, and even mentioned my aorta may have become detached from my skeleton. He's asked me to mostly stay laying down for another week. I'm feeling pretty good now and quit taking pain pills other than ibuprofen, but icing things down and not moving around too quickly. I hope to be better by the time I go for a follow-up next in 5 days. I'm still amazed that I didn't suffer more serious injuries or die. I definitely feel blessed by God.

Still, the point of my post is to ask everyone to consider their use of ladders carefully and be prudent. Make sure you have enough help for the job you're undertaking. That was probably my biggest mistake. I still can't believe my ladder lost balance in a way I've never had happen after being up ladders hundreds of times. An extra set of eyes may have made the difference.

:bed:

Re: Careful with ladders!
 

Wow Harvey Im glad all finished well considering danger from ladder falling. Ladders are on of common tools in my job, for ones that dont know I work as power line lineman, and there is never enough care dealing with ladders. U ALLWAYS must secure them, rope them, tide them thake extra help but NEVER leave them on their own. We usually use them on 10-12m (30-40ft) and use without safety belts and ropes is just impossiblle. For home use I recomend wooden ladders, avoid aluminium and plastics.



:woohoonaner:

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Is that an alloy skeletoned ladder in the first pic? Forbidden for lineman work here, but most commonly used too. It creates an excellent route for the current though... :bananas_b

Nice securing btw. Many linemen here don't secure at all. Many electricians also prefer going to the top of the building an then roping down to the electrical set, or funnier, even climb it up using only ropes and saddle. Some can do that on almost any sort of wall. :ha:

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10000 Volts makes excelent route on no matter what:ha::ha::ha:

Re: Careful with ladders!
 

Harvey, you were def lucky! I crashed down on my left ribs last spring and it didn't stop hurting for a month. There were no breaks or fractures but I know a guy who fell from a ladder this summer and broke 4 ribs. You must have a hard head! Good! Rope your ladder next time and never trust one. They slide too easy! Hope your feeling better soon!
Ante, that looks like our ladder! :D

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Re: Careful with ladders!
 

The orchard ladder I was using is the taller one in the photo below.



These three-legged orchard ladders are safest for use in working with trees as all three legs make firm contact with the ground even when working on ground that's not level. Securing the ladder to something would be a good thing, but it's rarely done as it's usually just not possible to do since there are branches that interfere with getting the latter into a position that would allow for this. I could have tied a rope around myself and tied it around a branch for safety, but having someone hold the ladder would have probably been the best option.

Most likely, I just pulled myself over by pulling on a branch to lift it, even though I didn't use much force and the branch was just a couple of feet away.

I went back to cut down the rest of the tree three days later (greeted by several of my new neighbors who were delighted to see I was doing as well as I was!) with two workers. I wasn't able to do much other than supervise but I did decide to avoid any lifting of branches from the ladder. I had workers trim off small branches and then put a rope over a crotch of the main trunk about 20' up (required some careful climbing of a worker) and from there we tied onto limbs which we cut off with a chain saw which has an extension pole that goes out 14'. This eliminated most of the need to cut a limb while standing on a ladder and we lowered cut branches with the rope. It was simple and much safer. It's best to avoid having to reach out very far from the ladder, especially with the weight of a chain saw or ladder.

I don't believe in "luck" or "lucky stars". I truly believe I was blessed and God protected me from more serious injuries and I am thanking God several times a day for getting along as well as I am. I hope my lesson helps protect me and others in the future.

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Gnarly Harvey! Glad to hear you'll live to see another day!

I saw a photo of Harvey's injuries over email... it's a horrible sight.
Get well soon buddy.

Here's my ladder story, thankfully its not really MY story but its a story I heard:
My neighbor(s) directly across the street from me at my previous residence had a horrible ladder incident as well. The very day they moved into the home, the husband fell from a ladder while cleaning coconut trees and died.

Be safe up on those ladders, everyone.

Oh, and let me add:
"Three points of contact at all times when climbing."
Keep that rule in mind and you'll fare much better and prevent more falls.
That means two hands and a foot holding on, or two feet and a hand, but not just two feet or two hands, etc.

Re: Careful with ladders!
 

Harv- You are indeed blessed. As I think I mentioned earlier, my son fell 15 feet off a stationary ladder about 8 months ago and smashed up his foot really badly. He's had 2 surgeries on it and has one more to remove the last of the pins. He's got a small limp but the rehab regimen he's on should leave him OK. I fell off a ladder a number of years ago in my garden center. I was hanging very large Christmas wreaths in the display windows and the ladder tipped as I leaned over. I fell on to the endcap of our metal shelving, hitting my chest, then to the floor. Like you, I couldn't breath for a few minutes (it seemed like hours) and that was the scariest part. I went to the ER the next day and had fractured some ribs and torn some intercostal muscles. Hurt for months afterward. We are indeed being watched over. Stay healthy, my friend.

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Just saw this one today. I also second the 3 point rule by Jarred.

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Wow, that's quite the story! I'm super glad to hear that you're okay! I can think of a number of injuries it could have caused that would have had you 'out of commission' for a long time or worse yet. The chances for spinal injury and head injuries are quite high for falls above a person's height, so it's wonderful that you are alright!

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Glad to hear you're doing relatively well. What a scare though....
My sister was standing on a tall stepladder and fell off and even though she landed pretty well, she chipped her elbow and still to this day can't straighten her arm up all the way.

Also, be careful on 5 gallon buckets...I've been guilty of this several times thinking I didn't really need a "real ladder". Too lazy to get one. And the bucket was handy. Last time I fell down in the garage and landed with a wreath stand (wrought iron with a big hook on the front on a 5 lb base) stuck into my ribs on the left side right through my T shirt. The dr said it missed my heart by a couple of inches. That was about a month ago and I still have a big knot there that hurts like crazy when I bump it on anything.
Hope you get better real soon!

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Damn Harvey, ........I'm really glad you're reasonably ok. Won't tell any accident stories I know of and I've been lucky since I used them all my life but, we've lost enough friends here. Maybe it's time for us old farts to take things a bit slower and more attention to detail with some of the things we used to take for granted....think I will.

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A month or so ago I fell of an extension ladder. There isn't enough room between my neighbors privet hedge and my wall to set the ladder at the right angle. Sure enough I leaned back a little to far the ladder pulled away from the wall and I ended up on top of the privet hedge.

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Oh Harvey - that must have hurt so much!!! Glad you are not in worse shape, and take care friend!!

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Hey, Tony, I'll take privet over roofs and concrete any day of the week! lol I imagine you could have had some branches poked into, though.

Regarding the 3-point rule, I don't think that is something I can apply to much of my work when I'm picking fruit, pruning a branch, using a chain saw, etc. Even when I've used a ladder for painting I have had a paint brush in one hand and had to move the paint can, etc. around with the other hand.

Jack, looks like that guys has lots of folks prepared to catch him! lol

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I was lucky,just a bruise and and a deep scratch from landing on a branch. Still hurt enough I thought I had really done some damage.I can't imagine the pain you must be in.

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Sunfish, I can imagine but I don't have to. From Harvey's description he landed at least as hard as I did. I couldn't breathe and when somebody finally helped me get on my feet, I had to hold on to them to walk. They scanned me from the head down and didn't find anything fractured or broke so God must like both of us! But I had to sleep on my back and the pains didn't get much better for more than 6 weeks. My advice to Harvey is to have as much fun as he safely can and let anyone pamper him that wants to! :)