>>While I am not a professional tower worker, I have worked in the oil
>>fields for many years and have
>>done tower work for pay while working for a Motorola shop. Never very
>>high, 150' is about the max,
>>but that's high enough to hurt!! And so is 30' or even 5'. How many
>>people do you know that have
>>broken ankles and knees just slipping off the last rung of a ladder??
>>
>something to think about: Ive got a friend who's a paramedic. I was looking
>through his training manuals, and found a guide about calling in medevac
>helicopters. One time this should be done, said the manual, is if someone's
>fallen from a height of 15 feet or above and is unconscious. That's alot
>shorter distance than I thought, and I'm sure many folks arent aware of how
>serious this is considered by medical professionals.
<snip>
FYI all, last November I was climbing onto my roof, and the ladder slipped
out from under me-fell down backwards and landed on top of the ladder on my
back on the driveway, with a full gallon of OIL based primer on top of me.
If this wasn't bad enuf, I broke the t12 vertebrae in my lower back, and
also my sternum, bruised my heart(palpitations for weeks), and had BAD(real
ugly) bruises everywhere too! This fall was only 10', but it landed me in
the hospital, and took several months of recuperation. YES, I climb towers
in my business, and yes I do use a full body harness with safety harness
and 2 gorilla hooks. The bottom line is all the guys that think they can
freeclimb, or just go up and do something quick without protective measures,
get real. Don't end up like I did or worse!
73,
Scott
KA1CLX
P.S. no I wasn't doing something stupid when the ladder slipped, I'm always
very careful, it just slipped.
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