04.09.2012

Up a ladder on the balcony

A reader sent us the attached photos of a man working on a step ladder on a balcony in Italy – but is it a Death Wish?

Our correspondent said: “I photographed this incident a couple of days ago in Lignano, Italy. A man was working on a stepladder and he was over the height of the balcony rail. It looked pretty precarious and I assume he had a good head for heights. I'm not sure whether it falls within the remit of your death wish series but I certainly would not want his job.”
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The block of appartments

Well it certainly does not look like the safest example of working at height we have seen, and certainly if the ladder slipped the man could easily be over the side and falling before he knew what was happening.

However he is working from a rung that is approved for use and not teetering on the top rung of a ladder that is too small. So the step ladder should be perfectly stable. But he looks as though he is plastering or painting the ceiling – a job that often causes people to reach out and thus overbalance so…….It also looks like another man is working on the same balcony – that’s always a risk if he backs down his ladder and ‘bumps’ the other.
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Not the safest working at height we have seen, but a Death Wish?

A Death Wish though?? We think probably not quite