Carelessness Or Stupidity

[pennzoil29]

Summabitch. I teamed back up with a younger version of me for work. This kid is so much like me when it come's to hanging siding, well, almost. It happen's to the best of us. He took a fall off the roof yesterday, and broke his ankle. I mean that ankle turned sideway's on impact, damn near turned my stomach. In the almost 30 yrs that I've been in this business, I've probably fell 4 or 5 time's. Let me tell you, it's not fun. I think he will learn a valuable lesson here, safety before stupidity. I mean, we are not bullet proof, can't sprout wing's, and we damn sure don't have Bilstien's in our leg's. I know they were doing surgery on it last night, but I haven't heard anything as of yet this morning. So, anyhow, if you guy's care to, say a little prayer for a speedy recovery for Eric, and for God's sake, all you construction worker's on this site be careful.

[Guymoe]

good luck and speedy recovery.....

[Stouffer]

Hope he is better. I hate when I have to go over 25ft on a ladder. Thank god I have only fell of the 8ft step ladder

[pennzoil29]

Thank you. I forgot to mention what he did. He had a step ladder on the roof, and did not use a toe board. I've done that a 1,000 time's, but I've alway's used a tow board. What really pisses me off is, I went up there to finish it when I got back from taking him to the hospital, and I was able to reach it. He is as tall as I am at 6'2". So, my question is, why in the hell did he use the ladder? Was it stupidity, or carelessness?

[bigbengalbubba]

Thank you. I forgot to mention what he did. He had a step ladder on the roof, and did not use a toe board. I've done that a 1,000 time's, but I've alway's used a tow board. What really pisses me off is, I went up there to finish it when I got back from taking him to the hospital, and I was able to reach it. He is as tall as I am at 6'2". So, my question is, why in the hell did he use the ladder? Was it stupidity, or carelessness?

 

How about just inexperience?

[J-man67]

That sucks. Wether it be stupidity or carelessness, it was a lesson learned... I did roofing/hardwood flooring/carpentry through college and I learned plenty of lessons haha! I have the scars as proof. Hope he heals up fast and is back under your wing.

[rvsahs]

That sucks. Wether it be stupidity or carelessness, it was a lesson learned... I did roofing/hardwood flooring/carpentry through college and I learned plenty of lessons haha! I have the scars as proof. Hope he heals up fast and is back under your wing.

 

Experience is always the best teacher.

[Nick The Great]

C. Laziness

 

We've all done things that we shouldn't have, just because we didn't want to bother putting up the toeboard, putting on the goggles, use the condom , etc. He could have done that very same thing 10 times and only fell once. But he could have died on impact too.

 

The ironic thing is that he probably thought about not using the ladder. But then he decided that the ladder would be safer than stretching and reaching from the roof.

 

Here's to a speedy and complete recovery

[4x4orbust]

hope he has a speedy recovery. he is lucky to have only a broken ankle from a fall like that. i think what Nick the Great said is a good theory of why the ladder ended up on the roof. sometimes if you are not comfortable on a roof, reaching makes you nervous and feel off balance.

i fell 25' off a roof once, broke both ankles and my left arm, talk about being useless for 6 weeks!! that was the worst tho... total falls to date: 4 lowest height: 8'

 

 

"it's not the fall that hurts, it's the sudden stop" -

[onac255]

Ouch! I've broken both my right ankle and torn all the ligaments in my left one at the same time and boy was that not fun...

 

Hopefully he will have a speedy recovery.

[J-man67]

C. Laziness

 

We've all done things that we shouldn't have, just because we didn't want to bother putting up the toeboard, putting on the goggles, use the condom , etc. He could have done that very same thing 10 times and only fell once. But he could have died on impact too.

 

The ironic thing is that he probably thought about not using the ladder. But then he decided that the ladder would be safer than stretching and reaching from the roof.

 

Here's to a speedy and complete recovery

 

GUILTY, but my 8 mo son is the best thing that ever happened to me :o)

[VMax2007]

This reminds me of a story...

 

Back in about 1990, I worked with a guy (Mech Engineer) that was also a DIY'er. He built his own house (most of it anyway) out in rural Wisconsin (nobody around him). He was working alone and fell 2 stories and completely shattered/blew out his knee. Luckily it was not a compound fracture or he probably would have bled out and died. He managed to crawl by pulling himself with his arms about 500 ft to the road and flagged down a car (no cell phones yet in 1990). He was in traction for months and went through several surgeries. I believe he was out of work for about a year.

 

That had to hurt like a mofo!!

[ALange]

Extend my best wishes. I fractured my ankle and tore all kinds of crap in it last summer and it still hurts I was on a bike trip, and broke it walking in a restaurant parking lot (pothole). Walking is dangerous. Robert Heinlein said Stupidity is a capitol offense and the sentence is usually self inflicted. Most of us learn more by pain avoidance rather than following rules.

[Z71Adrenaline]

hope he has a speedy recovery. he is lucky to have only a broken ankle from a fall like that. i think what Nick the Great said is a good theory of why the ladder ended up on the roof. sometimes if you are not comfortable on a roof, reaching makes you nervous and feel off balance.

i fell 25' off a roof once, broke both ankles and my left arm, talk about being useless for 6 weeks!! that was the worst tho... total falls to date: 4 lowest height: 8'

 

 

"it's not the fall that hurts, it's the sudden stop" -

 

That had to hurt! My uncle was getting limbs off of his in-laws' house back in a really bad ice storm in 2000 and fell from the roof. He shattered both wrists and had all kinds of hardware on them for a very long time. Poor guy.. couldn't even take care of his own hygiene! Glad you recovered!

[grampadirt]

Man,that sucks Jeff.I hope Eric comes back soon.He learned a lesson in safety the hard way.Now don't you take any chances trying to make up for his absence...