The RSI problem is an interesting one, exactly how it will affect us remains to be seen.
Use of ladders often exceeds those lifting regs, lugging a big heavy 3 tier ladder about is hard work, you are not always raising and lowering it in ideal conditions.
Trad window cleaning is also victim to RSI, and I have arthritic fingers from the constant knocking after scrimming thousands of georgian window panes.
My knees were also badly damaged from working off a ladder...and that one was a more insidious injury, cumulative after many years of resting knees against the rungs, very little weight, you don't even notice it when you are working.
On some of the larger offices I do, I way exceed what are obviously the recommended repetitive lifting weights, but when I have used a gym for instance I totally blow them out of the water.
When I'm using the pole, at any height I am continually changing hands, and the height and angle you are working at changes constantly too, so although you must be lifting weights above recommanded guidelines, there is constant variety....I think!!
Some jobs or tasks leave you locked in position...typing long posts on here for instance! Using a computer mouse causes problems too, and ditto texting on a mobile phone...I've got tennis bloody elbow from that
(really)
But whether we like it or not, and whether or not it is fair, working off ladders is going to be increasingly frowned upon, I hope they never get banned, I don't want the likes of Squeaky and others like him to change over to WFP and forego their ladders! From a very selfish point of view, such and action would end out forcing the more profitable jobs down in price, and I don't want that!
One good thing about going over to WFP....
It has made me far more aware when working off a ladder (not that it happens very often) I am not at all complacent now, not that I ever thought I was mind, but when you are using it day in and day out, you cannot help but become complacent and blase.
In a hurry?
You will almost run up that ladder, step onto ledges with one foot still on the ladder, reach that little bit firther rather than move the ladder to get at that one bit in the top corner, and so on.
So I would now say that as a result of going WFP I am now far safer when I do use the ladder.
Mattstanley mentions about window cleaners working off ladders and being of short duration, sorry, but nothing could be further from the truth, lets assume you have a nice compact round and work a 7 hour day, 3 and a half hours are going to be spent climbing up and down a ladder and working off it, every week you are spending hour after hour working up a ladder it is long duration not short.
Just because it takes us a minute and a half or so to cleaning the average window doesn't mean that what we do is of short duration, it isn't because it is continual throughout the day.
That'll do for no....I think the RSI is setting in from all this typing¬!
