I was lucky today

I was lucky today that I didn't seriously hurt or kill myself. I was adding a new downspout to the house. At one point, I was about 8 ft up on a ladder. I had to reach to remove a screw in the old downspout. The ladder slipped and down I went.



I landed where that gutter elbow is sitting - right between the deck railing and the hydrangea bush. The hydrangea has a bunch of old stalks with sharp points where I had pruned it back over the years. If I had landed on that, I'm sure I would have been impaled in several places. Fortunately, all I ended up with is a bunch of scratches on my arm and a bruised wrist.

You need ladder safety training. Never lean out over the side of a ladder and always have 3 points of contact. Glad you didn't get really hurt man!

I fell 10 feet from one last year. My ankle swol up larger than a softball. It still isn't totally right, and i don't have 100% confidence in it if you know what I mean.

Glad you wasn't hurt.

I'm in the gutter business and it don't take much of a fall to cause some serious injury. You should of put your ladder where the elbow is laying...avoid standing a ladder on a wood deck when you can. That wood is slicker than you realize and once it slips..your gone.

Glad you're ok

ako_deerking said:

You need ladder safety training. Never lean out over the side of a ladder and always have 3 points of contact. Glad you didn't get really hurt man!

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Yep. Belt buckle or breastbone rule. Glad you weren't hurt.

I know lot's of folks who fell from some pretty high heights and walked away (and were hurt) and others who fell from a foot or 2 and were seriously injured. Sometimes it doesn't take much. Almost every ladder accident is preventable.

I started searching the photo for a copper headed diamond coral back before I even read the post haha.

Ouch..glad you weren't hurt worse.

Glad you got out of it OK.

I was lucky yesterday ... was using a leaf blower to clean the gutters and roof ... stepped on the extension cord and was going down. I caught myself with my free arm. Shoulder feels it a bit, but it should be fine in a day or two.

ako_deerking said:

You need ladder safety training. Never lean out over the side of a ladder and always have 3 points of contact. Glad you didn't get really hurt man!

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I was being lazy. I should have been using my Gorilla ladder in an A-frame configuration. I finished the job that way.

I did have safety training at work. I just was careless.

Glad you were not seriously injured..I have been that route myself a couple times with ladders. Was painting my house one day leaned over too far and wham, hit the ground and left about a half bucket of paint over my brick work, I didn't get hurt but it wasn't pretty on the bricks..

The old saying accidents dont happen that are caused tie the ladder off next time or have a extra set of hands holding it, glad you missed getting hurt this time

I too had a go round with a ladder recently. Decided to clean out the gutters. Shouldn't be a problem as I have those inserts that's supposed to keep leaves and trash from going into the gutters. W R O N G.

I drag out the ladder and extend it several feet above the top of the gutters and start up the ladder. As soon as I stepped on the second section It slipped downward and caught on my other toe. I go over backwards with one foot hanging about 5 feet up in the air. I had failed to push the ladder up far enough to ensure the second section latched securely in one of the steps on the lower portion. Can't say that it didn't hurt either. LOL. My foot was still caught in between two of the steps. Only way I could get out of the "trap" was to pull the ladder down on top of me and try to catch it best I could. Which I also didn't do a good job of catching it. Had twisted my ankle so bad I couldn't stand up. Had to crawl to my stove building and pull myself up on the door knob. After about five minutes I was able to stand on that foot. Waited until the next day to finish cleaning the gutters. LOL.

friends don't let friends climb ladders......