I've done things equally as dumb and stupid in the past, and from a much greater height too.
As Squeaks will testify, one lad who worked for me would clean the 2nd floor windows on a high office, and then climb off the ladder halfway down to clean the first floor widows.
On one occasion, while he was off the ladder a gust of wind took it, it was extended to about 35 or so feet at the time...........
It crashed across the complete width of the road, falling just in front of a moving car
Fortunately no one was hurt and nothing was damaged apart from the ladder.
In a town called Monmouth, 15 miles from me, we cleaned the windows of a place called 'The Beaufort Arms Court Hotel...at least it was once apon a time.
I name it in case any of those local know the building I am talking about.
It's now been converted into smart flats.
We had to hire a ladder for this one, this ladder took 2 people to operate..it was a bigun'!
The front of the building, overlooked a cobbled area and a couple of pubs where in the summer the drinkers would sit outside supping their cider
So to look cool and impress the watching babes
the ladder would be extended about 35ft or so, maybe a little higher, and one of us would climb off it at the top and walk along a very narrow ledge cleaning the top 4 or 5 windows.
Yeah, I know, really dumb, but we thought it cool.
Around the other side it was higher still, on the highest window we would send newbies up there to clean the topmost windows.
On this side there were a couple of cafe's and cake shops with tables out on the cobbles.
On one occasion we had sent 'Lance' up to do the top window.......who froze 3/4 of the way up the ladder and was screaming in panic
A courtyard full of people watched on, sipping their coffee's and enjoying the show.
I duly climbed up the ladder behind Lance and talked him down...one step at a time
Can any of you imagine doing anything so stupid in todays climate??
Had one guy fall off the ladder in that same section too!!
I was sat in the van having a quick coffee when my son, who was along with me for the day, ran up and said there'd been an accident!
On running around I saw that to the one side a lad had slipped. The ladder was on top of a balcony, this place has an ancient vine growing on the side of it....Virginia creeper! (just remembered the name in time
)
It was Autumn and the creeper was shedding seeds all over the place, these seeds acted like ball bearings and the lad had not ensured his footing was safe, ergo he was at the top of the ladder when the bottom shot out, aided by the fallen seeds.
The ladder went so far and stuck in the bottom of the railings around the balcony, the top of the ladder went crashing through one of the windows, Jon (the lad in question) fell through one of the rungs of the ladder (ok, not all of him! Just one of his legs
)
By the time I had got there Lance had shinnied up the drain pipe (why he didn't use his ladder I still don't know) and was stood on the balcony scratching his head as Jon screamed out in agony, telling him not to touch his leg
Foregoing the drainpipe I used the ladder to climb up to check on Jon.
Just as before an interested audience looked on, little fingers crooked as they sipped their tea :
Jon was shouting, 'Don't touch my leg! Don't touch my leg!
With the ladder positioned just so I was above Jon, I braced myself as Jon put his arms around my neck and started to extricate himself...at which point Lance decided to help by grabbing his leg and shoving it upwards!
Jon has a fine pair of lungs and proceded to further entertain the crowd as he told Lance, clearly and succinctly, exactly what he was going to do to him.
Lance said his leg looked alright to him
It didn't, it looked a mess!
A firemans lift saw Jon deposited safely on the ground.
I got the hero's pat on the back
And murmerings of how strong I was could be heard
All of which peed Jon off no end as it was him that had pulled himself out of the ladder and onto my shoulders.
A trip to the hospital showed no bones broken, just lacerations and severe grazing and bruising.
I reckon I should have posted public notices every time we cleaned that place, it was always full of incident!
But had that accident happened today the brown stuff would've hit the fan, I shudder to think of the trouble I'd be in
Ignore Health and safety at your peril, it just isn't worth it.
Ian