20.09.2011

Combo Death Wish

Each week we receive a number of candidates for our Death Wish series of bad practice. The most common ones we see are someone using a piece of equipment such as a forklift, excavator or front end loader that was not designed or intended to be used as an access platform or crane, used for just that purpose.

It is usually driven by laziness to organise the right kit or for short cost saving purposes as the user gambles on getting away with it. Rarely do we see such a selection of gear ‘cobbled together’ in the manner of today’s Death Wish.

The picture was taken on Sunday at Parkgate on the Wirral in Merseyside UK.
The tradesman or perhaps home owner, clearly needs to work on the façade of the building and clearly has a number of pieces of rudimentary – scrap value -access equipment. So he has combined two old extension ladders with a small-tube steel scaffold tower, a plank and a bucket to create his work platform.
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Ladders, towers planks but not a safe platform between them

There is not a platform, stabiliser or toe-board in sight of course and the risk of it all coming down is exceptionally high, as is the chances of our man falling off. The platform? The horizontal ladder resting on the tower and the plank that spans the gap between the window sill and the vertical ladder.

As if the make-do platform was not enough the vertical ladder is standing out in a busy street with just a plastic chair and handwritten sign stating Slow Down! to stop a car clipping it. It is miraculous that the job was completed without incident.

The photo was sent in by a regular contributor who would normally have a quiet word with whomever had the Death Wish. But we don’t know if in this case he found anyone to speak to.