Thelma from Todmorden reminded me that accidents happen in relation to ladders and DIY projects.
This is why I am being ultra-careful about climbing up onto the scaffolding that currently surrounds our house. When I am working up there, I feel very safe but getting from the ladder onto the scaffolding and vice versa gives me a small attack of the heebie-jeebies each time I do it.
Many years ago, when I lived in a bedsit on Harcourt Road, I heard a crash and someone yelling from outside. It was a Saturday morning and the live-in caretaker at the house next door had fallen a short height from a ladder while painting the canopy over the doorway.
He had been using a pot of blue gloss paint and I don't know exactly how this transpired but that paint can must have ended up on his head because when I got outside, he was sitting on the doorstep covered in the stuff. He was like an alien and forever after that we referred to him as "The Blue Man".
Shirley was on an early shift at The Royal Hallamshire Hospital that morning and witnessed the arrival of "The Blue Man" in an ambulance. The first job the Accident and Emergency team needed to work out was how to get all that sticky blue paint off the fellow. Fortunately, he wasn't badly injured - just some cracked ribs and a broken wrist. They sat him in a bath and cleaned him up with mild solvents and soapy water.
When Shirley and I got married in 1981, we lived in an end terrace house on Leamington Street. We didn't like the pink rendering that a builder had applied to the property so I bought some brick red masonry paint and climbed a lofty ladder to paint the front of the house. I tell you, it's no fun being at the top of a ladder with a pot of paint and a masonry brush - hanging on for dear life.
I completed the project and survived but a neighbour - just round the corner on Warwick Street - attempting a similar task - was not so lucky. He slipped and fell and ended up in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Today, Day Three, I spent seven hours on the scaffold. The front and side of the house are done with just my flaky wooden noggings to paint black. Tomorrow I won'f finish the back of the house but I hope to make good progress and in addition I plan to be extra careful at the corner where the scaffolding boards do not meet the wall, leaving a man-sized void for the unwary.
Someone asked Google at what age you should stop climbing ladders and the answer came back - 65! Errr....
https://www.seniorsafetyscore.org/blog/26Dec19Ladders.html#:~:text=At%20what%20age%20should%20a,safety%20precautions%20at%20any%20age.
ReplyDeleteOkay Nurse Lily... thanks for the link.
DeleteThat reminds me of "The Blue Man Group" which I think is some sort of comedy act? I know of too many people getting hurt in falls off ladders so I generally steer clear unless I have to replace the light bulb in the garage. It's a quick job!
ReplyDeleteThat fellow is indeed from "The Blue Man Group"!
DeleteI'm sure the blue man stories are a dime a dozen. there are many accidents with ladders.
ReplyDeleteDo you wear tights Red? You can easily get ladders in them!
DeleteYou must be getting tired by now after so many days doing this painting project. I know you have only a little to go but could you not rest a day and then proceed? I am really afraid for you. No joke! I am!
ReplyDeleteI was hoping for a country walk tomorrow but I still have a little way to go with the painting. I appreciate your concern Big Sis!
DeleteMy father fell from a ladder many years ago and required brain surgery. It was almost a year before he was fully back to normal. If you go up a ladder, have someone down below holding things steady.
ReplyDeleteYour father proves that ladder accidents happen to real people. Apparently over a hundred people in the USA die each year after falling from ladders. Why doesn't Trump get a ladder?
Delete👍🏻
DeleteA man sized void! Get a sturdy extension handle for your paint roller so you don't have to lean out so far.
ReplyDeleteExterior painting here gets done by a team of maintenance men but I don't know how often, I've only seen them once and ditto gutter cleanings, there are several gutters here with whole miniature forests growing in them.
Do you live in a women's prison River?
DeleteNo No No. Public Housing. I doubt very much any prison would allow me this much time on the internet.
DeleteThe last time I was on a ladder was to pick cherries, if I remember correctly. It's been years, and in my daily life, I have no need to get up on ladders. Although I am not afraid of heights as such, the older I get, the more risk averse I become. And I am only 55!
ReplyDeleteYou have been making good progress, and I am sure you'll complete the job before long, and without any accidents. The trickiest part will probably be when you are nearing the end of the work; it is then that we humans tend to relax a little, thinking "almost there!", and it is then that most accidents happen when we lose focus even if only for an instant.
Thanks for that wise warning Meike!
DeleteDo be careful when you come to the tricky bits YP - that's often when accidents occur - and I speak from experience!
ReplyDeleteUntil recently I have gone up step ladders (not "rung" ladders) without a second thought, until I mentioned it to one or two friends. They were horrified and told me to stop immediately. As I'm happy to do jobs such as painting walls and ceilings, hanging curtains, changing light bulbs (fortunately all the lights are wall mounted). I'm annoyed that if I take notice I'll need to call someone in to do the jobs for me, which usually means (that's if I can actually find someone) hanging around until they are free. So now I have to what's app a friend and tell her when I go up a ladder, and again when I come down! I do - when I remember! Luckily the house is single-storey and I can paint most parts, and all the garden walls, with a roller on a long pole.
Keep on keeping on Carol! Just because you are getting older doesn't mean you are useless!
DeleteThis has reminded me of an incident several years ago when P was working up a ladder on our old house. After an hour or so I looked up at the patio doors to see him crawling up the steps on his hands and knees. He had fallen off the ladder and had been calling out for help but, being deaf, I was oblivious. Thankfully he was only bruised, but quite shaken.
ReplyDeleteTake care YP.
Poor Perry! He has a different martini from James Bond.
DeleteIt's a lot longer job than you it seemed when you started.
ReplyDeleteI have the scaffolding for a minimum of seven days because I thought I might need that amount of time.
DeleteA few years back I was picking cherries whilst standing on top of a tall stepladder. Need I say more?
ReplyDeleteI can imagine... WHEEEEEEEEE! SPLAT! AAAARGGH!
DeleteAlways take care of yourself. I bet it will look great when you are finished. And you didn't have to pay the price of a new car in labour.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that I will ever do such a project again. It's my farewell show.
DeleteDo hope you manage to finish without any mishaps or visits to A&E. It reminds me of when my father painted the outside of his house. He went up the ladder and mum stood underneath to steady the ladder. The ladder wobbled a bit as Dad over-reached and he lost his balance temporarily. He didn't fall luckily, but the tin of white paint he was holding fell out of his hand and straight onto mum below. She was covered from top to toe! Fortunately it was undercoat and could be washed off!!
ReplyDeleteIf it was under her coat, nobody would have seen it.
DeleteWell, Google knows best! LOL!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, British houses are especially challenging to work on, being often quite high and vertical, with steep roofs. (As opposed to American ranch houses, which are usually low and one story.) I used to climb on our roof in Florida without hesitation, but I would NEVER try to work on our roof here.
I am either miserly or brave or crazy. Take your pick.
DeleteLike Margaret's comment, this reminded me of "The Blue Man Group" that performs an act in Chicago and we took the family to it years ago. It was such raucous fun!
ReplyDeleteStay safe, Neil! You are tempting fate!
My picture is of one of "The Blue Man Group" Ellen.
DeleteI don't like people working on their own. So many accidents happen when nobody else is around.
ReplyDeleteI hear what you are saying Dave. I like Shirley to be at the bottom of the ladder when I am going up and when I am coming down.
DeleteFour years ago I painted our entire house, including the chimney which rises nearly thirty feet straight up from the ground. I swore as my feed touched terra firma for the last time after painting it that I would never paint it again.
ReplyDeleteTim was on a short 3 step ladder to change a light bulb. Somehow, he managed to tip it over and fell. It was the worst injury he ever gave himself. He wound up with a torn rotator cuff and required surgery and months of therapy. All the times that I worried about the big ladders. It was the small ones that I should have been concerned about.
ReplyDelete