Pictures of people using ladders in ridiculous ways are being sought as part of a safety-awareness campaign.
The Ladder Association is collecting pictures showing dangerous uses of ladders on its Facebook page. It’s asking visitors to the site to vote for which photo shows the biggest ‘idiot on a ladder’.
The image currently tied in the lead came from a newspaper report published in July. It shows a gardener up a tree, one foot on his ladder and the other on a branch, with both hands holding a chainsaw.
The competition is running alongside the Association’s Ladder Exchange programme, which offers discounts on new ladders to people who trade in old and unsafe ladders.
Ladder Association’s chairman Cameron Clow explained that the photo competition aims to shame negligent users of ladders, and encourage training for those who use such equipment at work. He said: “This campaign has been great for showing the amount of unsafe and dangerous ladder use going on every day.
“Thousands of people are seriously injured through falls from height every year – these images might appear humourous to some, but the potentially life-threatening outcome of these situations going wrong is no laughing matter.
“Through this campaign we hope to encourage training by showing the worst of what can happen without it, and shaming people who attempt to work in a ludicrously unsafe manner to change their ways. Ladders are a safe piece of equipment for working at height, if they are selected and used in a competent manner.”
New photos can still be submitted for consideration via the Association’s website, and you can vote for the ‘biggest idiot’ by ‘liking’ the relevant picture on Facebook.
Below you can see a range of photos showing unsafe work-at-height methods, which have been e-mailed to SHP by our readers. If you have any photos you’d like to add to this collection, please e-mail [email protected]
