25.02.2022

Making work difficult

One of our readers spotted men painting buildings in Acapulco, Mexico, with equipment and methods that make the job harder, slower and less safe than it needs to be.
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The buildings on the estate have an overall height in the region of 12 metres at the highest, but most work appears to be going on at a height of around nine metres or so. The yard and road ground below is sloping slightly. Rather than using an alloy access tower, or a trailer lift etc... the contractor is using a series of wooden stages levelled up with bricks and toped by long ladders.
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The result is clearly not the safest method for working at heights, however, to be fair the team have made attempts to improve the safety of this method by making the wood staging substantial and using guy ropes to hold the ladders although some of them are misplaced, although the brick levelling technique is dangerous given the likely flex and movement of the ladder.
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Not only is this technique unsafe, but it is also dreadfully inefficient, even allowing for the relatively low hourly pay rates in Mexico.
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A smaller version on site

Some of it may well be availability of rental machines in the area? If so, perhaps there is an opportunity, given the large number of hotels and resorts in the town. A Death Wish? You decide and let us know.
Have a safe weekend.