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 LADDER
MADNESS
With
care, you won’t be heading for a fall this fall
By
Lou Manfredini
Did you
ever fall off a ladder? I have, several times, and I can tell
you it is not fun.
Nor am
I unique. Last year, there were an estimated 171,000 ladder-related
accidents in the U.S., according to the American Ladder Institute,
which is an astounding number. As a homeowner, climbing up
a ladder is probably the single riskiest thing you can do.
And the fall season marks the riskiest time of all, as homeowners
add "cleaning leaves out of the gutters" to their
weekend chore lists.
Part of
the problem is that we take little time or care to make sure
we’re safe as we haul ourselves skyward. With extension ladders,
we think nothing of using old rickety ladders that were handed
down to us from our parents, broken rungs and all. And with
stepladders, we practically make a habit of perching on that
step they tell us not to stand on, because we’re too lazy
to get a ladder sized correctly for the job. It’s time to
put this foolishness to an end. Here are a few ladder do’s
and don’ts:
- Do
position extension ladders correctly. For stability, a ladder
has to be planted with its feet one-quarter of its extended
length away from the house. This is not as tricky to calculate
as it sounds. If it’s a 12-foot ladder, that means it has
to be positioned 3 feet from the house. For a 16-foot ladder,
make it 4 feet. There is also a sticker on the side of ladders
that illustrates the angle that the ladder should be placed.
It looks like a capital "L" and the bottom of
the "L" should be parallel the ground.
- Don’t
carry an extension ladder upright as you move it. This is
a maneuver best saved for the clowns at the circus. You
could easily lose control of it in this position, smashing
windows and gutters along the way, and knocking into power
lines. Instead, lower it and carry it parallel to the ground.
- Do
make sure the ladder is positioned on a level surface. Don’t
try to use rocks or bricks to prop up one side of it; those
will surely pop out as you’re climbing up.
- Don’t
ever work alone. A helper can keep you from making stupid
mistakes, such as having the ladder fall down while you’re
stuck up alone on the roof.
If there’s
one guiding principle with respect to ladders, it’s this:
If you feel squeamish, don’t go up. Period. This is all you
need to know, as far as I’m concerned. No matter what the
chore is, it’s a lot cheaper to hire someone to climb up and
clean those gutters for you than it is to head to the hospital.
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This article
originally appeared in USA Weekend magazine.
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