Had a scare today.
I rang my electrician to book in a job. "Sorry mate - he's in hospital."
This morning he was de-commissioning a mains circuit out at Dayboro.
Had his extension ladder up to a power pole. Didn't tie off at the top.
He fell from six metres.
He got picked up by the careflight chopper & straight to e.d.
Lucky to be alive I reckon - only shattered ankles & damaged pelvis.
Certainly makes you slow down & think.....How many times do you take workplace safety for granted?
Take it easy, & put safety first!!!!!
That sux, hope he's alright.
As an employer I had to make sure all my guys were following vic worksafe procedures, especially when working in public areas. Working from 6m, he should've had a 'safe landing platform' 2m or less below him, or a snatch harness rig attached.
I'm guessing his employer will get his a** kicked for this one, or if he's self employed, he could end up paying for it in dollars and in pain & rehab by the sound of it. Do you guys have regs where you have to hold a 'red-card' to enter job sites or work in public?
In vic this is enforced regularly, although I walked past a building yesterday with a 6m ladder leaning against it with it's legs on the footpath, and not tied off at the top! could've been nasty for the tradey or public if it fell.
Only recently saw some painters working on the outside of a building with a 3-4m scaffold tied to the front of a forklift and then raised to maxium lift..... i couldnt believe it !!!
Unfortunately these types of incidents occur too often and more often then not its due to either laziness with emphasis on just getting the job done or just dumb pride - people don't want to be seen as pansies because a task 'might' have 'some' inherent danger.
And its not just restricted to tradies though its everyday people going about their business. ie using pedestrian crossings, people duing U-turns in stupid places rather than just driving a few more hundred metres and pulling down a back street to turn around
the regulations for climbing power poles only require ladders to be tied off at the top and bottom, and a harness to be connected once up the top.
on a slightly related note, a work mate of mine got a 1000V boot this morning. details are sketchy at the moment so i don't really know the whole story
