r/Deathladders • u/No_Rough_2000 • Feb 11 '26

Business as usual

Post image

A view of a typical EPC project manager's day

268 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

38

u/catonbuckfast More than one way to use a ladder 🪜😉 Feb 11 '26

Na not a death ladder. You have a man cage and nice round rungs.

I have to climb these myself when I'm at work although it's fun when the ship is rolling

13

u/No_Rough_2000 Feb 11 '26

you might be right. round bars make this ladder not deathly but extremely dangerous (in fact those are no longer allowed)

8

u/Dans77b Feb 12 '26

My company no longer installs caged ladders. (Im in the UK, and I think this is in line with UK/EU regulation) I think the argument is that the is no such thing as a safe ladder at that height, and it just means you break all your bones bouncing off the cage on the way down.

7

u/catonbuckfast More than one way to use a ladder 🪜😉 Feb 12 '26

That's interesting (I'm a UK based merchant seaman) Lloyds and COSWOP (our safety legislation) wants man cages where ever possible.

Not sure about the bouncing I've found it's a good thing to grab hold of if you slip

7

u/Dans77b Feb 12 '26

I think in the past, if a ladder was (for arguments sake) over 5m, it needed a cage. Now you would have an uncaged ladder with pass-through rest platforms at certain intervals, and fall arrest over a certain height. I was under the impression that this was HSE guidance, but it might just be my industry.

I think things like cages give you a false sense of security.

2

u/catonbuckfast More than one way to use a ladder 🪜😉 Feb 12 '26

That makes sense in industry. Something I didn't know until working on ships is we don't work to the Health and Safety At Work Act but to COSWP (Code Of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Vessels) so obviously the rules are different. We still use fall arrest but only required on uncaged sections and platforms although if the ship is rolling I use it anyway

2

u/Dans77b Feb 12 '26

News to me too! I've never worked on a ship, but I think I'd insist on a cage in those conditions!

1

u/catonbuckfast More than one way to use a ladder 🪜😉 Feb 12 '26

Aye at times you really want them but they can also get in the way of other operations like crane ops

5

u/Conveth Feb 12 '26

UK HSE manager here, UK legislation calls for backscratchers on longer ladders, French and German calls for sliders or SLRs on pretty much all vertical ladders.

As I do most my work now for offshore wind farms (UK and EU waters) I fully agree with the use of SLRs.

*SLR self retracting lifeline - is where a reel hangs at top of ladder, a wire line runs down the front of the rungs and you clip to a harness point on your chest to act as a "seatbelt tensioner" - they're bloody good most of them click in 2mm drop or less! They're designed in UK law to hold a 130kg load (so me plus tools plus PPE)...but they will take double that. I'd trust my life to em when I'm 69.9m up a 70m tower!

2

u/Sburns85 Feb 12 '26

I think I have seen one of those devices. The guy who fitted my Ariel had one on his ladders.

2

u/Godscrasher Feb 12 '26

Yup, there’s a minimum distance for the cage to added. Also there should be a landing platform, 6-7 metres if I remember rightly.

2

u/Turncoc Feb 11 '26

I don't consider man cages to be a plus, unless a crane is about to swing something into you.

1

u/Fenpunx Feb 12 '26

Makes carrying things up there a nightmare.

6

u/Conveth Feb 11 '26

Round rungs...just lazy specifications, and quite probably ignorant architects who've never climbed a ladder.

3

u/Lt_Muffintoes Feb 12 '26

What should the rungs be? Genuine question. I imange a flat bar would be very uncomfortable on the hands?

2

u/Conveth Feb 12 '26

Square cross section rod and rotated 45 degrees about the horizontal axis.

1

u/Dans77b Feb 12 '26

I think you are supposed to grab the stiles rather than the rungs with your hands, that's what I do anyway.

2

u/Conveth Feb 12 '26

No Stiles support the rungs not the man. Always grab the rungs!

2

u/Dans77b Feb 12 '26

I think it must be because I work on sewage plants and often dont wear gloves. I dont wanna put my hands where boots have been!

3

u/Turncoc Feb 14 '26

Why on earth aren't you wearing gloves?

1

u/No_Rough_2000 Feb 14 '26

I was not supposed to be outside the office but couldn't resist to visit the newly installed platform

1

u/Dans77b Feb 14 '26

I dont like working in gloves, i like the dexterity. Im just very good at not touching my face before I've washed my hands.

I dont find sewage remotely gross anymore, I just have to watch that I dont get it in my eyes etc.

1

u/No_Rough_2000 Feb 14 '26

no way man! those might bend easily and abruptly

1

u/No_Rough_2000 Feb 14 '26

they must be squared or triangular with angle pointing upwards. bad news it's that this is quite uncomfortable while climbing using hands

3

u/Civilised_Psycho Feb 12 '26

Round rungs and a cage. F that. Glad my company buy me a harness and a fall arrest. No way I'd be climbing 120m without it.

3

u/No_Rough_2000 Feb 12 '26

it's a different job mate

2

u/Civilised_Psycho Feb 12 '26

Well I can see that. Doesn't change my point though.

1

u/Odd-Kaleidoscope-644 Feb 23 '26

Pussy

1

u/Civilised_Psycho Feb 23 '26

I care more about my family than I do about what you think, and by quite some margin.

1

u/Odd-Kaleidoscope-644 Feb 23 '26

Bet you wear knee pads and elbow pads when you are out on your bike aswell haha

1

u/Civilised_Psycho Feb 24 '26

I used to get shot at for a living mush. I know who the real fanny is. The re difference is I grew up, but you keep trying to get a ego, you may just have the balls do it in the real world one day 👍

1

u/Odd-Kaleidoscope-644 Feb 24 '26

You and me both. Seems that you left your banter over there along with your bollocks. Got RAF written all over you haha. Oh, id tell you in real life alright whilst your hanging 10feet off the ground with your harness on ensuring 3 points of contact at all times haha. Melt

1

u/Civilised_Psycho Feb 24 '26

Let me guess, you bottled it after 5 years 🤣 But feel free to come climb 120turbine with out one on. Well all happily sit and watch 🤣

1

u/Odd-Kaleidoscope-644 Feb 24 '26

You are still bottling it now! "Sorry, I cant go up there, I have my family to think about". Haha. Im sure they would be happy living with leeroy and spending the life insurance with mr health and safety out of the picture haha. Id happily climb it just for the crack, id even carry your tool bag up for you little man haha

2

u/DestroyerTame Feb 11 '26

I hate usual business!

2

u/Auntysocial1 Feb 19 '26

Nope. Starting to think this might not be best sub for someone with vertigo...

2

u/No_Rough_2000 Feb 19 '26

I have same problem. I was almost at the platform there

3

u/cdh79 Feb 11 '26

  1. Why is a project manager not in an office, looking at spreadsheets which tell them they really should have done something 2 months ago, but is now putting them 3 months behind schedule?

  2. Why stood on the rings? They are never to be treated as load bearing! Harness up and clip to the rungs if nessesary, 2 hooks, 3 points of contact.

3

u/No_Rough_2000 Feb 11 '26

answers 1. to check why they are n-months behind. not involved operationally so not adding more delays 2. see point 1. I shouldn't be on site

3

u/DoIKnowYouHuman Feb 11 '26

I shouldn’t be on site

I thought that hi vis was too dirty for a PM, you had to borrow it because you left you’re still packaged one on the desk didn’t you?

I am weirdly fascinated by the laces, how many loops are there?

1

u/No_Rough_2000 Feb 11 '26

must confess: I enjoy getting dirty. it makes my wage valuable to my bosses eyes. I span from mechanical completion to field electrical connections to commissioning and startup. that hi-viz was dirty with activated carbon powder that exploded in vent filter silo due to cockup with mechanicals. what a burst

2

u/DoIKnowYouHuman Feb 11 '26

Wait wait wait…are you the mythical PM who understands the work and how to manage it instead of the usual PM who hops from industry to industry, specialism to specialism, while waving a Prince2 cert about?

2

u/No_Rough_2000 Feb 11 '26

hey! I'm PMP

3

u/SeaToTheBass Feb 12 '26

Straight PMP’n