[stuart mc]

He was lucky that railing was there. It slowed his fall.

Where was this filmed? Obviously not in the UK as ladders are banned and no one in their right mind would use one these days. would they?  

Where did you learn that from? (ladders are banned)

http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/faqs/heightreg.htm

Did you read and understand the link.  That link effectively bans the use of ladders for routine window cleaning.  If you can do a job using a WFP, that's what should be used.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 do not ban ladders. They require that ladders should only be considered where a risk assessment has shown that the use of other more suitable work equipment is not appropriate because of the low risk, and short duration of the task or considerations of where the work is located.

For the majority of routine window cleaning, WFP is appropriate.

The statement was "ladders are banned"

And the link shows the law, that ladders are not banned.

Here's another for you.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/misc613.pdf

I used to have that document, it was written in 2003 and is superseded by WAHR 2005

[Tom White]

He was lucky that railing was there. It slowed his fall.

Where was this filmed? Obviously not in the UK as ladders are banned and no one in their right mind would use one these days. would they?  

Where did you learn that from? (ladders are banned)

http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/faqs/heightreg.htm

Did you read and understand the link.  That link effectively bans the use of ladders for routine window cleaning.  If you can do a job using a WFP, that's what should be used.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 do not ban ladders. They require that ladders should only be considered where a risk assessment has shown that the use of other more suitable work equipment is not appropriate because of the low risk, and short duration of the task or considerations of where the work is located.

For the majority of routine window cleaning, WFP is appropriate.

The statement was "ladders are banned"

And the link shows the law, that ladders are not banned.

Here's another for you.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/misc613.pdf

Yep, misc613 - that's well out of date.  WAHR 2005 is the authoritative document. 

It's not complicated; ladders are not to be used as a 1st means of access, and if there's a safer way of accessing windows other than working at height (i.e. using ladders 'n' stuff), and it's reasonably practical to do so, then ladders shouldn't be used.

Common sense really.

So ladders aren't banned, but their use is severely restricted.

[Ian Lancaster]

As someone who uses ladders very occasionally and treats them with all the respect I can muster, can anyone tell me what actual mistake did the guy in the vid make?

Maybe someone should have been footing the ladder but trads don't foot ladders. How could he have prevented the accident without footing it?

The man made two basic mistakes: firstly he didn't check the ladder footing to make sure the feet had firm ground under them to prevent slipping (if he had he would either have not set the ladder or would have taken some precaution to prevent it slipping); secondly he set the ladder with the styles in contact with the railing so when he climbed the flex of the ladder caused it to pivot at the point of contact and lifted the feet enough to start the slide.

As someone pointed out earlier, he should have attached the ladder to the railing - a bungee would have been ideal.

Yet again it proves the point: ladders are not dangerous, it's the user that causes the accident.

[weetot]

Good counter-balance though.

[pristine window cl]

fireman!