Re: Werner FS106 6' Fiberglass Ladder Failure

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On 5/02/16, Gary wrote:
> On 2/01/14, Jerry Heilman wrote:
>> On January 26th, 2013, I was at my new house painting up
>> inside one of the skylight tunnels in the dinning room. My
>> wife was right next to me so that she could hand me paint
>> filled rollers and what ever else I might need while working
>> in the confined space.
>>
>> I was using a 6' Werner FS106 fiberglass ladder, rated for
>> 250 lbs, that was maybe a year old and is always stored in
>> my shop. I was on the fourth rung from the bottom. Due to
>> the confined area I was working in, there was no way
>> possible to be leaning hardly at all in any direction, so I
>> was centered over the ladder.
>>
>> In a nut shell, all of a sudden the ladder dropped out from
>> under me and I fell out of the skylight tunnel and landed on
>> my right scapula on the hardwood floor. I ended up in the
>> emergency room with a small pneumothorax injury and spent
>> two days in the critical care center.
>>
>> I went over to the house yesterday to look at everything.
>> Nothing has been moved since the accident and I am going
>> over today to get some photos. The right side rail was bent
>> in directly below the bottom rung about 45 degrees towards
>> the center of the ladder. The lateral support for the
>> bottom rung looks like it pushed up the bottom rung a good
>> 3" in the middle. None of the fiberglass parts are torn
>> looking and I can not see any threads from fiberglass
>> tearing. Both side webs of the C channel side rail are
>> mushroomed outwards a lot. On the left hand side rail, you
>> can see a similar, but small, amount of deformation.
>>
>> I have done some searching on the CPSC web site and with
>> Google and have found very little in the way of similar
>> accidents reported. This web site seems to be one of the
>> only places with similar incidents reported.
>>
>> So, my question is, has anyone else had any similar
>> experience with Werner fiberglass ladders?
>
> I had a similar experience in january of this year. identical
> ladder, exact issue and i broke my right leg in multiple places.

s.

My wife had a very similar accident. She weighs only 125 lbs an
d yet both of the bottom legs collapsed inward, causing her to f
all and break her heel. A very surprising situation...should no
t have happened.