Be careful out there

[HappyHacker]

A close friend who is a health and safety consultant, with all the qualifications, in construction and manufacturing fell off a small step ladder while cutting his hedge. Despite having a long pole hedge cutter he leaned over the hedge from inside to cut the outside.

He landed on the grass and broke 10 ribs on one side. Four of them he broke twice.

He was admitted to hospital and after assessment sent to the regional major trauma hospital (1.5 hours drive away) where he was put in an induced coma and ventilated. They then operated to bolt all the breaks back together and kept him in an induced coma for a few more days.

Nearly two weeks later he has been discharged but is still in a lot of pain and is expected to take at least a couple of months to recover.

Apparently breaking more than two ribs is considered life threatening and breaking two or more twice gives you flail chest which is dangerous as the lungs do not work properly.

Once he has recovered enough to laugh we are not going to let him forget his profession and his accident and will take the p*** relentlessly.

So please be careful out there ,the simplest accidents can be dangerous. I am trying to use his experience as an excuse not to do this risky gardening stuff.

 

[AndyP]

Hope your mate gets better soon.

As I get older I get more and more conscious of that kind of thing. I do have about 100m of conifer to hedge to cut each year. I found my long pole hedge cutter when on full reach far to unwieldy so I now use one if those folding ladders with splayed out legs and sheet metal inserts to cover the rungs and make a platform and a shorter more controllable hedge cutter. Much more stable and less tiring than going up a ladder and constantly having to more it too.

 

[RogerS]

If I had 100m of conifer, I'd get a chainsaw.

 

[AndyP]

If I had 100m of conifer, I'd get a chainsaw.

I'm totally with you there Rog. Except for the privacy it provides and the length of time it would take for a natural hedge to grow. It is marginally better that the ever popular laurel hedge that can be found around most gardens locally.

 

[Woodbloke]

Ladders is the thing that scares the willies out of me :shock: I was never really very good at heights and even watching somebody on the flat roof of a skyscraper (say) on the TV can make me feel wibbly-wobbly. I used to be just about OK going up one a few years ago but I don’t do it anymore. Our window cleaner has now purchased a very posh extending brush system complete with a water ‘ose so he doesn’t have to go up one now either (for which he told me he’s very thankful) - Rob

 

[NickM]

Timely reminder as I'm struggling to put off the inevitable hedge cutting which needs to be done. It takes me the best part of a day each year to get the lot done and cleared up.

The worst one is the old box hedge which is about 8' deep. Even with the long arm trimmer on the top of a platform ladder (wide base one with a waste high rail at the top) I can still barely reach the other side. Maybe I should cut it down. Just think of all the chisel handles I could make... :eusa-think:

 

[Mike G]

Timely reminder as I'm struggling to put off the inevitable hedge cutting which needs to be done......

Ideally, Nick, you'd leave it until August when all of the birds have finished nesting. Well, except pigeons, who'll even nest in January if they get half a chance.

 

[NickM]

Timely reminder as I'm struggling to put off the inevitable hedge cutting which needs to be done......

Ideally, Nick, you'd leave it until August when all of the birds have finished nesting. Well, except pigeons, who'll even nest in January if they get half a chance.

It's a good point Mike. Maybe that will allow me to put it off a bit longer... That said, we've got a good idea of where the nests are so can avoid those hedges.

 

[9fingers]

During my working career in applied research we often needed to do strange activities which did not fit standard risk profiles. When H&S became the "thing" I had a number of H&S advisors out of the "computer says no" mould and latterly when i became more senior I got involved with recruiting replacements, I insisted on advisors who would tell me how to do what I and my staff needed to do is a safe way rather than just be told no you can't do it becasue it might not be safe
If I want to stand on the top of a ladder on one leg, I need an advisor to guide staff on how to do this.

No disrespect to the chap who fell, but he seems from the mould of not knowing how to do something safely that needed doing and sadly has paid the price.

Bob

 

[sunnybob]

I knew a man once, who leant over the 4 ft high wall dividing his front path from next doors. He was picking up a milk bottle. He rested his chest on the wall, stretched the extra three inches to reach, and broke two ribs. :shock: :shock: :eusa-doh:
No inertia involved, just pressed down on the wall.

I've always loved heights, any excuse to get on the roof to adjust the aerial. :eusa-dance: :eusa-dance:
But i'm banned now from anything higher than a standard step ladder, and even that causes grief from 'er indoors because I have an unreliable knee. :eusa-violin:

 

[novocaine]

I've spent today (well the work bit, the other bit i caught up with chris 101) dealing with the aftermath of 'computer says no' risk assessment. Turns out its more a case tweak it like this and the computer can only say yes with the right actions.

As to the other bit. Great to meet you Chris, next time ill buy the pints.

 

[Mr P]

For as long as I can remember I've been cutting hedges twice a year, the first cut around the longest day, the second cut around the August bank holiday.

 

[HappyHacker]

During my working career in applied research we often needed to do strange activities which did not fit standard risk profiles. When H&S became the "thing" I had a number of H&S advisors out of the "computer says no" mould and latterly when i became more senior I got involved with recruiting replacements, I insisted on advisors who would tell me how to do what I and my staff needed to do is a safe way rather than just be told no you can't do it becasue it might not be safe

Bob

He is one of the more pragmatic H&S people I have come across and has many interesting discussions with HSE including after an incident on a site on a busy pedestrianised street, which included a large pickup truck being flattened, he was called into the HSE office. The HSE rep asked him why the accident had not been reported, my mate replied "It was not a reportable accident, but we were b****** lucky that no one was killed!" He then went on to explain why the accident had happened despite following all the rules, a fully qualified, on paper, agency employee did not know what they were doing but pretended they did, and what they had already done to make sure that those circumstances did not occur again, which satisfied the HSE rep.

Unfortunately he does know how to do the job safely but like most of us we sometimes exceed our capabilities which we are not going to let him forget, I suspect he will suffer more from our p*** taking than the pain from the breaks

It has made me think more about what I am doing when working on top of a 10 ft step ladder on my current job.

 

[RogerS]

.....

It has made me think more about what I am doing when working on top of a 10 ft step ladder on my current job.

Precisely so. And to do it at the right time. Last Thursday we drove down to Malvern for a couple of nights. Hotels booked. Appointments made. Dinner reservations made.

Wednesday...I was just about to get the chainsaw out when I thought .....not a good idea.