#OnThisDay 1977: John Noakes (and Terry the cameraman) scaled Nelson's Column to clean out some pigeon poo. This is absolutely terrifying, but compulsive viewing. pic.twitter.com/daeLk7Exnx

— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) May 30, 2019

John Noakes doing his best Alex Honnold impression. I could never do this.

Yes, I remember seeing that a while back now.  They were at a different level really :).  That ladder!!!

A ledge on a ledge.

Good Grief! I guess that the RA was minimal.

“what’s an RA?”

man, that’s terrifying

… to think we all used to wear flares like that

I remember watching this when it was first shown.

What’s even more impressive is that Shep is behind him on the ladder, just out of shot.

Taking ” Get down!” to a whole new level.

It’s ok. They tied him on at the top…

I too remember this first time around. With my middle aged eyes in 2019 that now looks bat shit mental. And also absolutely brilliant!

Call that a ladder? I give you the Dibster..

As a kid that just looked fun it’s only now that I can barely stand to watch it. My dad was a fireman for 30 years and the stuff they used to do is hard to imagine now. I’ve been to fire station open days and watched them scale the training tower with hook ladders. When he was in Blackpool he used to help out a fellow fireman who was a painter and decorator and they used to do the hotels on the seafront from ladders, 5 floors up.

Blimey Charlie, climbing a ladder in those flares! Fair play though!

These days the pigeon poo is too much of a risk, let alone the whole height/climbing thing.

“what’s an RA?”

Risk Assessment.
See also MS – Method Statement.

I rewatched this on YouTube only a few weeks ago – just watching gave me vertigo!

A ledge on a ledge.

Very good.

Nope.

Especially the overhang bit with ladders tied together. Double nope.

Yup there no way that would happen these days…right of the bat there no hard hats hivis or harness let alone protection from the pigeon shit…

Yup there no way that would happen these day

Not with one of these bad boys it wouldn’t….

Yup there no way that would happen these days

And nor should it, stupid thing to be doing for the sake of a job.

H&S regulations these days are fantastic, the amount of dangers we have at work is incredible, solvents, explosive atmospheres, working at height, high pressures, gases, acids, the lot, and the fact that we’ve had very little in the way of accidents over the years is testament to that.

The thing about H&S legislation is that it actually saves money – as Nobeerinthefridge has correctly pointed out, we’ve reduced accidents at work. I’ve a brother who used to work on oil rigs, my father is a retired engineer – we had to learn the hard way that H&S is important, unfortunately some commentators see it is pointless bureaucracy – they’d be the first people I’d send up a ladder without a hard hat, high viz and a harness.

Risk Assessment.
See also MS – Method Statement.

Without a doubt H&S has saved lives, and only improved working conditions… but

some commentators see it is pointless bureaucracy

No, some commentator are fueled by Daily fail (& others) headlines & lazy officials using it as an excuse to ban stuff

http://www.hse.gov.uk/myth/index.htm

some commentators see it is pointless bureaucracy

There are occasions when the regulations are entirely pointless because of the blanket nature of them which, perhaps, doesn’t apply in specific circumstances which  can give this impression.

It doesn’t change the overall positive  context of the massive reductions in injuries and fatalities since they were introduced.

For example, if Noakes had been wearing a hi-viz vest, how would that have contributed to his safety?

It would certainly  have made his rapid progress to the ground much more visible to the onlookers if he had fallen.

Here’s a video of hook ladders in operation. We had one at home for a long time after they were retired from use. They weren’t what you’d call light so running them up the front of a building was pretty hard work.

From 1977 but also coming to a post-Brexit Britain near you in 2020?

Re H&S – agreed it is obviously a good thing. When it’s done well……..

I have outlasted 6 H&S managers here and in the roles I have held I have had a lot to do with them. The first four (late middle aged men with significant chips on their shoulder) were unmitigated arseholes. Their collective mantras were telling what you could not do, stopping, banning and instructing the generation of reams of paperwork. The last two (both younger women) have been a delight to work with. Their clear mantra has been “what do you want to achieve, how can I help you achieve that safely?”. The first 4 made me want to hide the skeletons in my closet; The last two I invite round for a cuppa and fling the closet doors open for them to see and help with. Guess which have promoted the safest and most productive working environments?

So in summary when the first generation of H&S tossers die out (in mysterious acme anvils dropped out of windows ‘accidents’) and the new breed take over throughout the land the attitude to the whole concept will have a sea change.

I think it’s fair to say the majority of people bemoaning H&S are unlikely to have to work in these environments, very rarely meet anyone these days who are unwilling to comply or happy to take unreasonable risks for the sake of a job, in fact my local supermarket car park is one of the most dangerous places I’ve been in a while.

No way they’d allow that….. smoking, on a childrens programme !!!

Damn you PrinceJohn – I’ve wasted so much time this morning viewing clips on that twitter page! 🙂

Who doesn’t like being healthy and safe? 🙄

Would absolutely love a bash at one of those wheeled escapes, we ‘found’ a couple of hook ladders tucked away and couldn’t resist a go. Surprisingly secure, but exposure makes you feel unsafe. French still use them and regularly perform rescues down them.

Isn’t the biggest problem with “Health and safety” that most of the times it’s implemented in an overlly agressive “H&S rules” way, the rules are being misaplled in areas where they need not be, usually to the consternation of the the H&S professionals.

And I remember that episode. Nokes, always the daredevil. Completely upstaging the errr… other guy 😉

Surprisingly secure, but exposure makes you feel unsafe.

I saw another video on YouTube about their introduction after a fire in London in 1907. While there were some fatalities in training there were none when they were used in anger. My dad turned his into a roof ladder which came in handy in 1987 when we were on the roof fixing tarpaulins to it after the hurricane took away a good number of the tiles. Fortunately we lived in bungalow so not too far to the ground. I think he still has the hook part in his shed.

a brilliant edition of Blue Peter. I too recall watching the original in 1977 and also re-watched it earlier this year. Terrifying.

Fred Dibnah – what a legend. How on earth can you get your head round climbing those chimneys with those massive overhangs in a boiler suit and hobnail boots with no harness or safety gear. Absolutely nuts.

Isn’t the biggest problem with “Health and safety” that most of the times it’s implemented in an overlly agressive “H&S rules” way, the rules are being misaplled in areas where they need not be, usually to the consternation of the the H&S professionals.

Indeed. Quite a few times I have been told ” you can’t do that – ‘elf and safety” but when asked why, what does the risk assessment say? no answer can be given.

‘H&S’ reasons often means laziness when used as an excuse for not doing something.

We have a client who won’t allow their own employees to work from ladders for ‘Health and Safety’ reasons

Because I am prepared to use HSE guidelines, the WAHR and the heirachy of work at height to look at a job and decide on the best access route we will happily work from ladders where it is appropriate and safe. Because of this, despite being a rope access company we do quite a lot of little jobs like gutter/downpipe clearance for this client simply because they are then able to shift the bulk of the liability (vicarious aside) on to us.

We have a client who won’t allow their own employees to work from ladders for ‘Health and Safety’ reasons

We won’t allow this at work either, as it would be incredibly difficult to control, lots of dangers ie steam pipes, acid lines around. Scaffolding, although bloody expensive and time consuming, is a safer method.

And MEWP hire so cheap these days. I know they create their own risks, but better in most cases than a ladder.