How many hours do the people of this nation spend behind the wheel? And how many hours up a ladder? Proportionately,.. per hour, the risk of death from being up a ladder is hundreds of times greater than the risk from driving.
When you get into a car though, you recognise the potential for injury & wear a seatbelt though. You can't remove the risks but you can minimise them.
Ladders will never be banned, but the restrictions currently laid out in law will one day be enforced and on that day a lot of the trad guys here will get a shock. You're only allowed to use ladders where there is no practicable alternative. In 99% of situations there is an alternative.
A basic WFP setup (backpack) can cost less than trad equipment,.. I know I'll never convince everyone to switch completely but I'd love if everyone had at least a basic wfp kit just for the awkward & dangerous windows.
Yes we should ban them and the reason, there is an alternative that will do the job without the chance even a remote one that the cleaner will die.
In the 1800's miners used canaries to detect explosive gases, then in 1815 the miners lamps was used, since them it has been updated many times and nowdays the casaulty rate from explosions in this country and many around the world is almost nil.
In ww1 and ww11 mine detecting use to be a bannonet prodding the ground in front of the solider, now they use mine detectors.
These are only 2 examples, but the only reason these changes happened was safety of the workforce, I would not like to be in the place of the miner who had to use a canaries instead of the gas detecting equipment they have nowadays.
If ultimate safety was a real concern to any of us, then we would all stop driving - something which we all treat as an everyday activity. According to government statistics, there are 12 ladder deaths a year and 3000 road deaths a year. Sad as these ladder accidents are, we need to keep safety in perspective.