06.09.2010

Double Death Wish

From Northern Ireland an example of a very poorly erected access tower compounded by an even crazier stunt for extra height.

The reader who sent it into us says that when he passed by this window replacement company in Bangor, Northern Ireland, the man in the picture was standing on a chair balanced on the top of the scaffold, working at full stretch with a cordless drill, putting screws into the building’s facia boards..

Unfortunately for the photo, but fortunately for his life, by the time our man stopped and got his camera out the “Nutter”, as he puts it, had climbed down off of the chair and was making his way to the ground.
Please register to see all images

A poorly constructed tower and to top it all a chair for the extra height

We dubbed this a double Death Wish due to the state of the tower to start with - no worries about advance guardrails or through-the-trap methods of guardrailing here - there simply isn't any!

The build-up of the tower looks decidedly dodgy, there is only a single platform on the top of a double-width tower, and it seems churlish to mention, but there are no toe boards.

So that is Death Wish one, then standing on a chair balanced on that narrow platform and working at full stretch is the second Death Wish.

All this on a busy pavement with pedestrians passing directly below. Hopefully the man on the ladder is from the construction/window company which owns the building and is telling the man with the chair to get down?? Perhaps that is wishful thinking?
Please register to see all images

A closer look at that tower