The odds of dying by falling off a ladder

[chochokeira]

The chances of Taff Jones meeting his Maker by falling off a ladder were so tiny because so few deaths happen that way. See the following statistics from a Daily Mirror article:

300,000,000/1 SHARK ATTACK (c 40 deaths per year)

300,000,000/1 FAIRGROUND ACCIDENT

250,000,000/1 FALLING COCONUT (c 150 deaths per year)

11,000,000/1 PLANE CRASH  (c 1,300 deaths per year)

10,000,000/1 KILLED BY LIGHTNING (c 5 deaths per year)

10,000,000/1 KILLED BY THE ESCAPE OF RADIATION

9,300,000/1 DYING IN TERRORIST ATTACK

5,000,000/1 SCALDED BY HOT TAP WATER. (c 126 deaths per year)

4,400,000/1 LEFT-HANDED PEOPLE USING A RIGHT-HANDED PRODUCT

3,500,000/1 SNAKE BITES (c 25,000 deaths per year)

3,000,000/1 FOOD POISONING (c 200 deaths per year)

2,300,000/1 DYING FROM FALLING OFF A LADDER (c 15 deaths per year)

1,200 suffer serious injuries. A quarter of all falls happen off ladders.

2,000,000/1 DYING AFTER FALLING OUT OF BED (c 20 deaths)

685,000/1 DROWNING IN THE BATH (25 deaths per year)

500,000/1 BEING KILLED IN A TRAIN CRASH (c 13 deaths per year)

43,500/1 BEING KILLED IN AN ACCIDENT AT WORK (c 300 deaths)

8,000/1 KILLED IN A ROAD ACCIDENT (c 1,500 per year)

5/1 DYING FROM CANCER ( c 130,000 deaths per year)

2.5/1 DYING FROM HEART ATTACK OR STROKE (c200,000 deaths per year)

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-world/2008/05/30/scientists-calculate-odd-ways-to-die-115875-17495916/

You need to be very careful when trying to use statistics like this - they simply don't apply as quoted here.

The reality is that the chance of Taff Jones falling from a ladder and killing himself are much much higher than quoted here.

The reason is that these stats are the chances of any member of the UK population dying from a ladder fall in their lifetime. Now consider the following:

i) the vast majority of UK citizens never climb a ladder, and of those that do, only a fraction would ever climb to a height that would present a genuine risk of death.ii)

 of those that do, a large fraction are "professionals" who know how to climb ladders as part of their job, and even though they do it more often, they are far less likely to fall.

Taff Jones was (i) a ladder climber who felt comfortable climbing to a death-risking height, and (ii) an amateur - he was therefore in a much higher risk group than the majority of the British population.

Ergo, his odds of dying from a ladder fall were nowhere near as unlikely as has been quoted above.

(it's like quoting the chances of any UK citizen dying of testicular cancer, and then applying that to a woman - it's meaningless unless you include more specific information on the risk group the person comes from)

Thank you for your response regarding this, Bob, but what you'd stated in not actually correct.

1.  Employees have died falling 6' from ladders

2.  In 2009/2010, falls from ladders at work "resulted in 16 deaths"

I'm in my office at present, so don't have time to search for the figure for total (industrial and domestic) deaths resulting from falls from ladders for that year, however, a quick look at a number of years suggests that total deaths tend to be less than 20 per in any one year - which suggests that the overwhelming majority of deaths are industrial, not domestic.

Those 16 industrial deaths in 2009-10 would have been the overwhelming majority of deaths for that year.

3.  Taff Jones' death was therefore one of a very small number of deaths resulting from falls from ladders, the number is even smaller when the tiny percentage of domestic deaths involving ladders are taken into account.

You are right to point out that there are complex issues involved, however, key issues appear to be whether the ladders were properly maintained, whether the person who falls hits their head, how hard and fast they fall and what they land on or in rather than expertise with ladders, odd as it may seem. Thousands of people survive falls from ladders every year.

Keira - I am not convinced you are correct in saying I am incorrect.

Your link to the ambulance-chasers' website appears to relate only to deaths in the workplace.

I am finding it difficult to get UK-based information regarding deaths from non-workplace-related ladder falls (i.e. DIYers etc) - if you have any I would be interested to see them.

I did find this detailed study from Australia though. I doubt our pattern of ladder use exactly matches theirs but it can't be a million miles away (in fact there will be proportionally a lot more multi-story properties in the UK than Australia so our stats could well be worse than theirs).

http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/186_01_010107/mit10419_fm.html

The relevant part for this discussion is:

Activity at time of injury   Presentations    Major Trauma
Working for income               851  (18.7%)        33 (20.6%)
Unpaid work                      657  (14.4%)        77 (48.1%)
Other                            3045 (66.9%)        50 (31.3%)

IMHO - this strongly suggests that non-professional use of ladders is by far the most significant contributor of ladder accidents.

Hi Bob,

Thanks for finding this. You're right, it's very hard to find stats relating to this. The only general stats I've found are the mirror ones above.

I have to go to a protest meeting this evening and may not be back until late, but I shall get back to you on this once I've had a chance to look at the attachment.

[bob]

Can anyone put a picture up of the gable end he fell from ?

I'm afraid not. This is the only known picture of the 'tragic accident', and unfortunately his gable end isn't in shot.

[jon]

Can anyone put a picture up of the gable end he fell from ?

I'm afraid not. This is the only known picture of the 'tragic accident', and unfortunately his gable end isn't in shot.

Haha Brilliant Bob !!

[andrea]

hi bob  youre my new forum boyfriend 

just thought i should let you know 

[Alias]

hi bob  youre my new forum boyfriend 

just thought i should let you know 

Hey, YOU´re quick, huh! 

[andrea]

he he, well paulg bleeding left me again!! so i had to grab bob reet quick before he sods off aswell 

[Alias]

he he, well paulg bleeding left me again!! so i had to grab bob reet quick before he sods off aswell 

Yeah, I managed to chase off my board sweetheart yesterday in a heartbeat, really. I know how THAT feels!  :'(
It´ll probably be a couple of years till wichfinder will be back here. I really blew that one big time!  :'( :'( :'(

[Alias]

I wonder how many witches he finds though - he can´t spell it right. That worries me.... 

[starryian007]

Mmmmm "The Daily Mirror" that fountain of statistical immutable knowledge. That bedrock of indisputable fact.
The apex of journalistic nirvana and the envy of Fleet Street

It must be strange that a man falls off a ladder and in doing so dies. As tragic as that is, it is hardly stuff of Lee Harvey Oswald-type conspiracy is it?

[Roch]

Mmmmm "The Daily Mirror" that fountain of statistical immutable knowledge. That bedrock of indisputable fact.
The apex of journalistic nirvana and the envy of Fleet Street

It must be strange that a man falls off a ladder and in doing so dies. As tragic as that is, it is hardly stuff of Lee Harvey Oswald-type conspiracy is it?

Maybe you need to read up on the power behind funny handshakes? 

[chochokeira]

Mmmmm "The Daily Mirror" that fountain of statistical immutable knowledge. That bedrock of indisputable fact.
The apex of journalistic nirvana and the envy of Fleet Street

It must be strange that a man falls off a ladder and in doing so dies. As tragic as that is, it is hardly stuff of Lee Harvey Oswald-type conspiracy is it?

"Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.
The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.
Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U97lbv0_A2I

[chochokeira]

The Scott Lomax book, which I've just begun reading, states that Taff Jones' death was particularly puzzling because Taff fell just a short distance from a step ladder while painting his house.

A step ladder...

[chochokeira]

The Scott Lomax book, which I've just begun reading, states that Taff Jones' death was particularly puzzling because Taff fell just a short distance from a step ladder while painting his house.

A step ladder...

Taff was just 35 when he died, according to Lomax.

[grahameb]

The Scott Lomax book, which I've just begun reading, states that Taff Jones' death was particularly puzzling because Taff fell just a short distance from a step ladder while painting his house.

A step ladder...

Taff was just 35 when he died, according to Lomax.

I have a Chinese friend who laughed at young people in England falling over. She said, "Why young people in this country fall over? In China only old people fall over". I told her that it is because most Chinese people are closer to the ground than English people.

[Alias]

The Scott Lomax book, which I've just begun reading, states that Taff Jones' death was particularly puzzling because Taff fell just a short distance from a step ladder while painting his house.

A step ladder...

Didn´t know that it was a step ladder! Are there any statistics of how many people have died falling off a step ladder?!
Makes it even more bizarre - and I always pictured him as an old man. 35, falling off a step ladder! Are there any reports of his injuries?
That would be interesting to read!!