[TowerTalk] ladders

[jimlux]

Kevin Normoyle wrote:
> If you're 55+, using a ladder seems to have a lot of risk.
> 
> http://apha.confex.com/apha/135am/recordingredirect.cgi/id/17261
> (you can click on a pdf link there)
> 

Interestingly, a couple months back there was a big NASA ladder safety 
thing.. ladder related injuries are the leading cause of accidents or 
something like that.

One of the interesting aspects was that, at NASA anyway, the median 
height from which the problem occurred was something like 3 feet.

(that's probably injuries vs fatalities... and for any serious height 
there's pretty decent training and equipment, so I'd guess it's all the 
casual "climb up and change the light bulb" and trip coming down sorts 
of things.

Height does mean something... it changes the kind of injuries, and 
therefore the fatalities. accidentally falling off a 10 foot thing is 
about the worst.. you have just enough time to rotate and hit your head. 
   (the same thing that makes the toast land jelly side down).  The 2-3 
foot ones tend to result in things like broken ankles, legs, arms.