# Crazy ladder



## Flatbedford (Apr 28, 2011)

I spotted this crew working on the Upper West side of NYC today. Crazy ladder. This does not look safe to me. I hope he survived.


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## Backwoods Savage (Apr 28, 2011)

You can tell he has done this before as he looks relaxed as does his helper. Better he than me.


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## Flatbedford (Apr 29, 2011)

He looked more like he wanted to keep his job than he looked relaxed to me! Looked like a real fly by night operation. Plain white van with no lettering, which is illegal in NYC. Probably pays the guys cash and carries no insurance.


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## fossil (Apr 29, 2011)

I don't care how much cash they offered me...I would not climb that ladder.  Rick


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## peakbagger (Apr 29, 2011)

Per OSHA, if there isnt three point contact with the ladder at all times (2 feet, one hand or 2 hands 1 foot), he needs to wear a safety harness attached to an approved rigging point. It sure doesnt look like he is in compliance. Tall ladders can deflect quite a bit and can be real bouncy so I am less worried about the deflection.


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## firefighterjake (Apr 29, 2011)

fossil said:
			
		

> I don't care how much cash they offered me...I would not climb that ladder.  Rick



Ditto.


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## nate379 (Apr 29, 2011)

How is a white van with no letters illegal?  Maybe the guy that owns or managers the buildnig owns is and he is on that ladder fixing a window?



			
				Flatbedford said:
			
		

> He looked more like he wanted to keep his job than he looked relaxed to me! Looked like a real fly by night operation. Plain white van with no lettering, which is illegal in NYC. Probably pays the guys cash and carries no insurance.



Ladder looks fine to me.  They make 60 and 80ft extension ladders and I wou;ldn't be surprised if taller than that as well.


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## SolarAndWood (Apr 29, 2011)

Isn't that just a 40 footer?  They aren't that bad.


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## Flatbedford (Apr 29, 2011)

NATE379 said:
			
		

> How is a white van with no letters illegal?  Maybe the guy that owns or managers the buildnig owns is and he is on that ladder fixing a window?



The van has New Jersey commercial plates. Not the building owner. Donald Trump owns these buildings. In NYC a vehicle with commercial plates must have the business name and address shown. I know this because I have been ticketed twice for this.


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## Delta-T (Apr 29, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> Isn't that just a 40 footer?  They aren't that bad.



looks like 2- 20' ladders taped together. As long as they have the min recommended 3 layers of duct tape I think they are ok!


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## GAMMA RAY (Apr 29, 2011)

That looks like something my husband would rig up and say....ok Michelle..since you are lighter....go on....get up there...I will hold it.... :grrr:


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## PapaDave (Apr 29, 2011)

At least they were smart enough to realize the short one wasn't gonna' cut it.
Shoulda' put it away though. Looks tacky. :cheese:


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## Delta-T (Apr 29, 2011)

that lil lonely one off to the side does look a bit out of place. Guess they didn't really need that extra few feet, or they ran out of tape.


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## dafattkidd (Apr 30, 2011)

It's weird to see images of Manhattan on here.  Not that I'm in the city much, but it's just usually there's more rednecky things on here (which is why I like it here so much).  

I had a job in NYC recently and man was I glad to come back home.  It's so noisy and seemingly threatening.  I worked there for two overnight shifts in Union Square right on the street.  

Here's some the crap I saw while I was working there:
* a guy get arrested.  
*I almost beat some other guy up for pushing his girlfriend around (cops got involved so I let them do their job).  
*Saw a homeless man have a seizure on the sidewalk.  
*And other things I'd rather not mention in this sacred place of the heart.


I just remember saying to my friend while we were freezing in street, "Man at my house right now my wife and son are sleeping, the street is quiet, and there's a warm fire going in my stove."  Damn that city.


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## North of 60 (Apr 30, 2011)

That kinda $hi_ dont fly hear. With the types of portable lifts nowadays, no person should be doing dumb stuff like that. No point in trying to feed your family when one time you may not be around or become physically damaged to do so. Thats just ignorant, BUT believable.  Thanks for sharing Flatbed.


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## remkel (Apr 30, 2011)

peakbagger said:
			
		

> Per OSHA, if there isnt three point contact with the ladder at all times (2 feet, one hand or 2 hands 1 foot), he needs to wear a safety harness attached to an approved rigging point. It sure doesnt look like he is in compliance. Tall ladders can deflect quite a bit and can be real bouncy so I am less worried about the deflection.



peak- looking at that crew I do not think OSHA is their primary concern- I think INS is probably the letters they are more likely to look out for....as for the fall protection and ladder- well, in addiiton to the body harness and lanyard the top of the ladder should also be secured if the ladder is being used as a "work platform".


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## Flatbedford (Apr 30, 2011)

I am at work in NYC 5-7 days a week. That's one reason I spend so much time here at hearth.com.
About 10 years a ago I worked on the streets in the motion picture industry. We worked all over the city, all times of day and night, and in all weather. In the 5 years that I did that, I can almost say I have seen it all, but I'm sure there is still more to see. If never had to be in NYC again, it would still be too soon.

Here's another crazy ladder trick that I saw a few years ago.









Where is OSHA when you need them? People should not be risking life and limb unnecessarily at work. Makes me mad to see people at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder being exploited.


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## BrotherBart (May 1, 2011)

Did that for four years in summer when I was in high school hanging rodeo bunting on the front of buildings all over West Texas. Then taking it down a few weeks later, at night. Forty footers on the front of bank buildings and two twenty foot ladders mounted on top of a moving panel truck doing "street lines" over the streets. Then the same thing with Christmas decorations in winter. I must have been out of my mind. 

These days going up on the roof to clean the chimney scares the hell out of me and it isn't even a steep pitched roof. Can't get up the guts anymore to go out to the edge to clean the gutters.


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## remkel (May 1, 2011)

Flatbedford said:
			
		

> I am at work in NYC 5-7 days a week. That's one reason I spend so much time here at hearth.com.
> About 10 years a ago I worked on the streets in the motion picture industry. We worked all over the city, all times of day and night, and in all weather. In the 5 years that I did that, I can almost say I have seen it all, but I'm sure there is still more to see. If never had to be in NYC again, it would still be too soon.
> 
> Here's another crazy ladder trick that I saw a few years ago.
> ...



Being a safety professional, I can tell you that a lot of time it is not the employee being exploited, but the employee coming up with these solutions. It does no matter how many safety rules and procedures you put in place, many times and individual will take matters into their own hands and do the darndest things......not that I do not think there are many people being exploited.


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## Flatbedford (May 3, 2011)

I hear you Remkel, and I agree that that does happen too. But, I get the feeling that the older kinda plump white guy in the picture told the younger, darker skin guys to be quiet and go up the ladder on top of the scaffold or else...


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## remkel (May 3, 2011)

Or the older guy had just gone to home depot and hired the two on the scaffold- I find a lot of time with immigrant workers that they do not have any concept of safety procedures. Photographs from around the world showing the way they work would support this as there are no "plump white guys" telling them what to do in their native countries. Don't know if you have ever seen photos of bamboo scaffolding- now that is something to see.


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## Flatbedford (May 4, 2011)

You should see some of the scaffolding on the non union jobs in the outer boros of NYC. They are not bamboo, but that is only because you can't find bamboo in the garbage in NYC. Every year or so there is a collapse and usually there is death involved.


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