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 deths 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/

 

[chochokeira]

The majority of those who fall off of ladders survive to tell the tale

[shonapugs]

Choch!! Welcome to my world!! How convenient was that ladder incident?

[chochokeira]

Choch!! Welcome to my world!! How convenient was that ladder incident?

It's the timing that makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, Shona. Most odd.

[shonapugs]

I'm sorry to be blunt, Choch, but the whole thing is a crock of shit. It's a bloody mess.

[grahameb]

I hate heights and also ladders. I remember working in Braintree once 25 feet up signwriting a factory building and this wasp decided to investigate me. What do I do? Pot of paint in one hand and brush in the other. I took a swipe at the wasp, knocked my glasses off which smashed as the hit the ground and I nearly fell of the ladder as well.
I knew a farmer a few years back. I used to do all his sign work. He was working in a barn on a ladder. He must have fallen straight back and was killed instantly. Poor chap. I felt sorry for his wife. He was so young as well. Had a farm over Tolleshunt D'Arcy somewhere. In fact just a couple of miles away from White House Farm by coincidence.

[jon]

Nil !!

[chochokeira]

I hate heights and also ladders. I remember working in Braintree once 25 feet up signwriting a factory building and this wasp decided to investigate me. What do I do? Pot of paint in one hand and brush in the other. I took a swipe at the wasp, knocked my glasses off which smashed as the hit the ground and I nearly fell of the ladder as well.
I knew a farmer a few years back. I used to do all his sign work. He was working in a barn on a ladder. He must have fallen straight back and was killed instantly. Poor chap. I felt sorry for his wife. He was so young as well. Had a farm over Tolleshunt D'Arcy somewhere. In fact just a couple of miles away from White House Farm by coincidence.

Thanks for this, Grahame. Do you know the height he fell from, why he died? Was it the height, what he landed on, how he landed - head first? - or some other factor?

[chochokeira]

Thousands of people fall from ladders every year. Although around 1,200 of them are seriously injured as a result, only c 15 people tend to die from such falls each year. Are there any details of why Taff Jones died as result of his fall?

[grahameb]

I hate heights and also ladders. I remember working in Braintree once 25 feet up signwriting a factory building and this wasp decided to investigate me. What do I do? Pot of paint in one hand and brush in the other. I took a swipe at the wasp, knocked my glasses off which smashed as the hit the ground and I nearly fell of the ladder as well.
I knew a farmer a few years back. I used to do all his sign work. He was working in a barn on a ladder. He must have fallen straight back and was killed instantly. Poor chap. I felt sorry for his wife. He was so young as well. Had a farm over Tolleshunt D'Arcy somewhere. In fact just a couple of miles away from White House Farm by coincidence.

Thanks for this, Grahame. Do you know the height he fell from, why he died? Was it the height, what he landed on, how he landed - head first? - or some other factor?

Hi Keira. I think it was around 20 feet and he fell backwards onto concrete and hit his head. I can't be entirely sure unless I contact his widow, but I don't feel it would be right to do that?

[grahameb]

It has always sounded very fishy to me, to say the least 

Me too and I don't think it was properly investigated either. But I could be wrong?

[chochokeira]

"Jones died before the case came to court after falling from a ladder in his home." Wikipedia

[chochokeira]

"Jones went home and was up a ladder doing house repairs when he fell and
suffered injuries that eventually led to his death, on May 11, 1986. It’s more than a little coincidental that the only officer who always believed Bamber’s account of events should have died in a freak accident, but there is nothing obviously untoward in the incident, which I investigated thoroughly. It was without doubt a genuine accident, as the inquest into Jones’s death confirmed."

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Tl_ccG59sGwJ:davidjamessmith.net/pdf_articles/DJS_bamber.pdf+Jeremy+Bamber+Jones+died+fall+ladder+broke&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESitCv820yTkN5ndupo7isLx6DNL8kKY9OcKGg64_kxHmnduZG8DTQ5j1m7ZCPZJzDjN3UgVNDpL5u4rWKD-lKM-B82szrdJwTg-5J2MVmafRay-EE_D75grzPic3EkLMF9Rl66v&sig=AHIEtbTbgkHSeEpGlrEFXUBICs5OTHzWtQ

[nugnug]

it is possible to die from falling off a ladder unlikely but it is possible

people die from falling out of bed very rare but it does happen.

it would depend weather he had any health problems that would have been aggravated by a fall.

[chochokeira]

I hate heights and also ladders. I remember working in Braintree once 25 feet up signwriting a factory building and this wasp decided to investigate me. What do I do? Pot of paint in one hand and brush in the other. I took a swipe at the wasp, knocked my glasses off which smashed as the hit the ground and I nearly fell of the ladder as well.
I knew a farmer a few years back. I used to do all his sign work. He was working in a barn on a ladder. He must have fallen straight back and was killed instantly. Poor chap. I felt sorry for his wife. He was so young as well. Had a farm over Tolleshunt D'Arcy somewhere. In fact just a couple of miles away from White House Farm by coincidence.

I disliked climbing ladders too, until a few years ago when, along with some others, I abseiled from a c 120' high tower. The descent was brilliant, Grahame, I loved it, the only part I dreaded was climbing up to the top of the tower. The stairs stopped half way up, so we had to climb a perpendicular ladder up the wall of the tower. In the event, I surprised myself by enjoying the climb too - though I was wearing a safety harness attached to a hoist which would have held me if I'd fallen and the hoist would have pulled me up if my nerve had failed.

Once I got to the top I had to stand with my back to the outer wall of the tower and climb over the wall backwards, dropping my feet down on to a c 2-3' square concrete platform. Due to the curvature of the tower, I was then standing proud of the tower, with nothing around me to hold onto but fresh air until I leaned forward and grabbed the top of the tower wall to the right of me, before swinging my legs over and dropping down so that I was dangling from the tower by my harness before abseiling my way down.

Ladders don't scare me any longer.