Scared of heights?

Pacu · **on:** September 12, 2010, 09:57:17 AM

So i got a job promotion at work ..fancy new title ..basically 50% of the time i run cables in the ceiling at our retail stores for all the connected displays and patch them in to a server rack. The other 50% i set up and configure all the fancy devices/displays in the store for customers to play with.

Now i've never been scared of climbing all over the roof installing sat dishes or pulling cable 40-50 feet up in the air on a lift. Last night i went in and no lifts were dropped off. Works gotta be done so my boss and i use a platform type of forklift to install a Bose audio system. Talk about sweaty palms. That was some horrific height work. Hanging an 80 pound speaker system from the ceiling and running the cables with the platform all the way extended. I had a safety harness on but the slightest move and the thing shook. The cables have to be hidden and ziptied up in the ceiling to code so try standing with both hands above you high in the air on a shaky platform.

we got it done..i almost kissed the ground when i got done

Mike, Lord of the Spammers! · **Reply #1 on:** September 12, 2010, 10:05:15 AM

You have my sympathy mate, I don't much like heights either $:-\$

Congrates on the promotion though

AHB · **Reply #2 on:** September 12, 2010, 10:10:10 AM

Glad you made it down in one piece..

And congrats with the new title..

Chako · **Reply #3 on:** September 12, 2010, 01:41:38 PM

Heights are not my forte either.

I can relay a story my father once told me when I made the mistake of asking him how his day went. He told me it was a slightly bad day. the usual zoomboom was out of commission, so the contractor brought in a secondary unit with faulty hydraulics. So my father and a welder are up over 100 feet running pipes along the ceiling in an Industrial complex when the hydraulics hiccup, resulting in a sudden half foot drop each time. Both guys get scared quick. They bring it down as fast as possible, and look over the hydraulics. True enough, there is a slight leak. Both figure it is relatively safe, and go back up to continue their work. He said the platform dropped about 4 times during the day. He didn't enjoy that at all.

Benner · **Reply #4 on:** September 12, 2010, 01:44:18 PM

No real problems with heights. Just adds to the fun.

nuphoria · **Reply #5 on:** September 12, 2010, 02:13:11 PM

I quite like them, in fact I usually make a b-line to the nearest tall building when I visit a new city. It gives you a great perspective on things

You be careful up there in that new job dude

Craig · **Reply #6 on:** September 12, 2010, 02:39:27 PM

I don't mind tall buildings but shaking forklifts are another matter

Neil · **Reply #7 on:** September 12, 2010, 02:46:00 PM

When I first bought a house I had to go buy some steps for all those little jobs. I purposefully bought the one meter high ones. Anything needing something bigger is someone else's problem

EM745 · **Reply #8 on:** September 12, 2010, 08:55:35 PM

I wouldn't mind heights at all... if it weren't for that pesky thing called GRAVITY.

edcgear · **Reply #9 on:** September 12, 2010, 09:00:54 PM

I dont mind hights much, get adrenalin rush althaugh...

But due to my line of work I end up climbing various constructions, and some of them are fill with rust, so once or twice my foot went trough a floor or stair... That was scarry!!

ryan1835 · **Reply #10 on:** September 12, 2010, 10:08:03 PM

i always thought i was okay with them till i started my job lol

as long as my feet are on something solid im okay but i hate working from ladders!

so i force myself to do it as often as i can to try and get more comfortable doing it

Shane769 · **Reply #11 on:** September 12, 2010, 11:50:46 PM

Heights? Those scare people?!

I LOVE heights. Wouldn't be in the mountains as much if I didn't. We have a man-lift at work that shakes like mad, and lurches when it drives! So fun. When I have a harness on, I feel totally safe.

cgk · **Reply #12 on:** September 13, 2010, 03:11:53 AM

Just did a ropes course on Thursday......it was fun in that I got a rush from thinking I was going to die the whole time. It was similar to the pic below.

asupernothing · **Reply #13 on:** September 13, 2010, 04:44:02 PM

I also tend to work on lifts at decent height. I don't mind the heights.
Actually I don't even mind the risk of falling.

Its the guarantee of hitting the ground that's slightly unsettling...

That being said, I am also a rock climber...

Pacu · **Reply #14 on:** September 13, 2010, 05:29:14 PM

running more lines at night on a much better lift.

still hit a trench and the lift leaned to the right when i was max'd out

Mr. Whippy · **Reply #15 on:** September 13, 2010, 05:37:27 PM

Clip a sling to that gridwork of ceiling support and tell the lift guy to try and roll it!

It'd be like an action movie!

John · **Reply #16 on:** September 13, 2010, 05:54:17 PM

Quote from: Craig on September 12, 2010, 02:39:27 PM

I don't mind tall buildings but shaking forklifts are another matter

Yep and Ive seen a few reach and CB trucks go over in my time,some peeps really think they're driving rally cars

mind you the last one I saw was a guy doing a mast check,he left it the full 10M max lift position and moved off LOL he hit a roof strut and toppled over forks first

No I don't have any sympathy for the guy he apparently was talking on his phone while doing the check,oh the truck had no sympathy for the guy either it spat battery acid all over his a** when it hit the ground

sawman · **Reply #17 on:** September 13, 2010, 07:02:52 PM

I don't generally care for heights if it's like a ladder or something BUT, when it comes to buildings I like to be on the highest floor possible. It's my dream to one day buy and live in a high-rise condo with a balcony

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #18 on:** September 14, 2010, 04:45:01 PM

I took my fall arrester course years ago for insurance reasons, but heights don't bother me. At one point they used to, but I've pretty well learned that while accidents do indeed happen, they are few and far between. And, when working with potentially dangerous things like heights, the insurance companies and lawyers have taken all the risk out of them. Your harness for example is probably rated to about 500 pounds, and tested to twice that, so it won't let go. The cable you are tethered to has a break open section designed to slow your fall so there's no chance of soft tissue injuries, which are almost impossible to prove one way or the other from a legal standpoint.

Don't follow that logic as it will eventually ruin a lot of the fun you can have in life. For example, roller coasters aren't the least bit exciting to me these days because I know the legal safety requirements of roller coaster construction and design, and you have a better chance of getting struck by lighting the day you win the lottery than by being injured on one... and no risk, no excitement. It becomes a mildly amusing ride at best.

Fear is a good thing- don't ever lose your hold on it, or you end up losing a lot of fun.

Def

specgrade · **Reply #19 on:** September 14, 2010, 05:27:10 PM

I don't mind heights, it's the sudden stop at the end of the fall that scares me. I've been strapped to personal lifts about 3 stories up replacing light bulbs and ballasts and they shake all over the place.

asupernothing · **Reply #20 on:** September 14, 2010, 07:00:10 PM

Quote from: Grant Lamontagne on September 14, 2010, 04:45:01 PM

no risk, no excitement.

Fear is a good thing- don't ever lose your hold on it, or you end up losing a lot of fun.

Def

second that

Quote from: specgrade on September 14, 2010, 05:27:10 PM

I don't mind heights, it's the sudden stop at the end of the fall that scares me.

and that

ryan1835 · **Reply #21 on:** September 14, 2010, 07:06:04 PM

Quote from: Grant Lamontagne on September 14, 2010, 04:45:01 PM

I took my fall arrester course years ago for insurance reasons, but heights don't bother me. At one point they used to, but I've pretty well learned that while accidents do indeed happen, they are few and far between. And, when working with potentially dangerous things like heights, the insurance companies and lawyers have taken all the risk out of them. Your harness for example is probably rated to about 500 pounds, and tested to twice that, so it won't let go. The cable you are tethered to has a break open section designed to slow your fall so there's no chance of soft tissue injuries, which are almost impossible to prove one way or the other from a legal standpoint.

Don't follow that logic as it will eventually ruin a lot of the fun you can have in life. For example, roller coasters aren't the least bit exciting to me these days because I know the legal safety requirements of roller coaster construction and design, and you have a better chance of getting struck by lighting the day you win the lottery than by being injured on one... and no risk, no excitement. It becomes a mildly amusing ride at best.

Fear is a good thing- don't ever lose your hold on it, or you end up losing a lot of fun.

Def

i was lucky enough to get a tour of thorpe park from an engineer there

i made all my friends worried when i only toild them what in theory could go wrong

Craig · **Reply #22 on:** September 14, 2010, 09:32:51 PM

Quote from: ryan1835 on September 14, 2010, 07:06:04 PM

[

i was lucky enough to get a tour of thorpe park from an engineer there

i made all my friends worried when i only toild them what in theory could go wrong