21.05.2013

Making do with what you have

A reader in the UK spotted one of the most precarious looking work platforms we have seen in some time yesterday.

The contraption is made up of a collection of ladders and planks to provide a full façade staging with absolutely zero protection from falling. The most horrifying part of the get up though is the plank covering the right hand side of the house- more than a Death Wish .. A suicide platform.
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A collection of access equipment used every two years to paint the house

Our reader did the right thing and stopped at the house in West Yorkshire to explain how unsafe the access equipment was. He spoke with the house owner’s son. Who explained that the his 79 year old father has used the same set up every two years to paint the upper part of his house and never had an accident.

Our correspondent says: “It must have taken a bit of effort just to get the equipment up there. What can't be seen is the screwdriver which is in the peg hole of the ladder bracket holding the horizontal pieces. Also the two slivers of wood pressed into the grass to prevent the ladder from slipping.”
“Yorkshire ingenuity?”
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A view from the other side

Well we have nothing but admiration for a 79 year old that is able to rig up such a device at what is a good age. However there is no question about it this is a Death Trap rather than just a Death Wish.

Hopefully he completes this job without incident and that when he is 81 he brings in some more modern and safer equipment.