You’re out in the yard enjoying the first days of fall weather before the cold rolls in for the wintertime. You glance up to your second-story windows and notice that the summer rains left them looking dirty and dirty. Great, it’s time to do some spring cleaning, and the windows are at the top of your list.
Before you pull the ladder out of the garage and fill a bucket with suds, have you thought about the safety risk? More than 500,000 people experience a fall every year, leading to an injury that sends them to the emergency room. It might shock you to learn that around 300-people die each year from ladder-related falls.
Don’t let this be you. Before you start climbing those ladder rungs, read through these reasons to keep your feet on the floor.
How to Avoid Accidents with Ladders
If you’re working on the second-story windows, you’re going to need a ladder. When working with your ladder, follow these protocols to ensure you don’t fall off when cleaning the windows.
Always Have Someone Around
The first rule of using a ladder is always to have someone around. What happens if you fall and break your leg or get knocked unconscious? If you’re immobilized, you’ll struggle with calling for help, and if your unconscious, you’ll have to wait for someone to find you.
Having a partner hold the ladder while you climb and work is the best way to avoid ladder problems. When setting up the ladder, make sure you keep it around four to five feet away from the wall. If you’re working at heights above 15-feet, we recommend keeping the base of the ladder 6-feet away from the wall to create a stable climbing surface.
Don’t Fall Carrying the Cleaning Stuff
When moving up the ladder, it’s easy to distract yourself with your cleaning apparatus. Keep your cleaning equipment attached to a belt and work with a spray bottle instead of a bucket. It’s easy for water to slop around in a bucket while you’re up high.
This slopping action of the soapy water in the bucket can how you off balance, leading to a fall. Likewise, when working with rags and cloths at height, make sure you have your balance on the ladder and a steady base. Never climb past the third-last rung on the ladder. Going higher than this results in instability in the base and a fall.
Most DIY ladders fall short of being tall enough to boost you up to the windows. As a result, people take chances of standing on the final three rungs, resulting in falls.
What Do You Do If Something Goes Wrong?
If you have to work on a ladder by yourself, make sure you keep your cellphone in your pocket. It’s not going to do you any good if you fall and knock yourself unconscious. However, if you fall and break a hip or leg, at least you can make a call for help, even if you’re immobilized.
If you’re working along, call a friend and tell them what you’re doing. Tell them you’ll get back to them when you finish in about 30-minutes. If they don’t hear back from you in 45 minutes, tell them to call the ambulance and come over to see what’s wrong. If everything’s okay, you can offer them a glass of wine as an apology for keeping you safe.
Why Endanger Your Life? – Work with Professionals
Working on your windows yourself is a haphazard idea and could result in a serious injury. Why go to the hassle and danger of doing it yourself? Call a professional window cleaning service to take care of the job for you.
Ask around your neighbourhood for referrals on the best window cleaning service in your community. Look for a company providing a transparent estimate, with high-quality results, and affordable prices.
