Fear Of Heights
 

ok so i have been at my new job (carpentry) for about a month now..
i haven't seen my boss since i started besides to pick up my check. he went in for a quadruple bypass the day i started. every one i work with has been great. and work with me cuz i don't like heights. i get about 10 feet up and get nervous. i keep trying regardless. once i break about 10 feet my work gets sloppy and i'm real slow working and holding on to what ever i can with a death grip.
even i find it odd because i have no problem with say riding my bike over 100mph.

any way my boss found out that i don't like heights. talked to me when i picked up my check. i just told him, if i had told you would you have hired me? he said no.
because it's a job requirement. i told him that i realize this is something i need to get over and i figured if i want the job bad enough i will just need to keep working at it thats the best i have to offer. he seemed ok with that and understood.


it seems like no matter how hard i try.. the one fear i have i can't get rid of.
it's irritating as hell too! what do you guys suggest? cuz i really like this job the people are great!

Is it the hights that bother you are the ladders. I did roofing for a while and the hights didnt bother me but climbing the ladders and working from ladders is what bothered me. I found just to keep at it and started to trust my self. The more you do it the more you feel safe. Thats the best i can help ya bud.

Start Sky diving

all of it, i was up on a single story roof the other day attempting to strip the ridge caps.. i wasn't happy with it but i done it.

i took some singles up to the guys on the addition that up 3 stoies. i was more nervous cuz the singles where riding against the ladder the whole way up and kinda throwing me off balance.

Once you take that first 3 story high dive you won't be afraid of yer job anymore. That's a bet.

I'm about the same way, I just can't look over the edge. As long as I'm lookin out and down I'm fine. I tried strippin the gutters off a 3 story house one time to but I had two ladders with the plank in between em using them as walkways. That was a little to much for my world. I tied a rope off from the chimney and used a harness for that one.

ya need to focus real hard on the task at hand and yer mond wont get worried bout the heights

its hard to do.....we have some at work that are like you and its easier for guys like me to just do their job for em.....................I swap em out for crap detail heheheheeee

Are you "tying off"? OSHA requirement after 6 feet.

If you are wearing a harness and are tied off you will feel a little more confident.

Remember. It is not the fall that kills you, It's that sudden stop at the end.

in the 6 weeks i worked at the overhead door company i never tied off once, never even mentioned a harness and we were working on doors that was 25 feet tall, and my big 340 pound ass was on a 250 pound rated aluminum extension ladder......talk about flex.......sometimes i didnt even have anything to hold onto.......

There was a big fuss around here about the new OSHA regs on this, until the day came and they were in affect and then eveybody just ignored them anyway. I have yet to see a single company using a single harness.

I didn't even mind the fall off the barn roof so much as I did all the time I had to think about how bad it was gonna hurt while I was fallin. That short time was worse then the landing.

We are pretty big on safety, OSHA visits pretty regular here in the Houston area.
They are getting worse.

Just don't look down :)

Getting used to heights is hard stuff, it took my co-worker all summer to get used to them, but i was right there helping him though it.

I know what you mean about the ladder and carrying up shingles though, I used to carry 2 at a time(sometimes) up to about 18 feet off the ground and the ladder would flex like no other but it but it wouldn't bother me though.

get better ladders. most people use aluminum which is ok but the wooden ones dont flex as much, but they are heavy.

My father is a roofer and I am scared sh!tless of heights. I worked with him (and still do) for 10-15 years. the ladders still get me but I keep doing it and after a while dont think about it.

When I worked in the theatre there were two things that I hated. We had this old, single person man lift that we would use to adjust lights 30 feet in the air. That damn thing would sway and of course when you are that high all you think about is 'I hope this thing doesnt tip'. The other thing I hated was going up on the catwalk. That damn thing was 50 above everything and it was one of those catwalks where you can see through the floor. I eventually worked up there long enough that I got over it, but that man lift still gives me goosebumps.

Oh, thinking about it, when I worked for the local Co-op I was on top of grain silos a couple of times. We went up there to install some GPS receivers. Talk about a hairy deal; no harness, no safety rail, anywhere from 100-150 feet to the bottom, wind blowing all the time. I finally told the boss I wasn't going to do it anymore after he dropped his cell phone from the top of one of the 150 ft silos ... I've never seen a cell phone in that many pieces.

Fiberglass Ladders. OSHA Likes them best. Electricians are not allowed to use aluminum Ladders.

I would say bungyjumping.. that should cure your fear. respect the rope. you have to have trust in your gear. If it fails ya, well then you really wont have to worry about it right.........*splat*...j/k
maybe you can just do the clean up work on the ground....:w2:

If I am near the edge or working from a ladder and have to stretch I have a hard time. If I have good footing and don't think about falling I am fine. I have scared my brother a few times by what I was doing off of a ladder. But if you want me to walk on a high pitch roof, or on a ladder that is old or flimsy, count me out. When I help my cousin o the grain farm I am always walking up grain bins and such, never bothered me, but I am a little slower making sure I have footing than walking around on the ground. Hights don't bother me, it the fall that scares me.

Every Bungee cord I have ever owned has broken. Tie one around your ankles and jump off a bridge? NO THANK YOU!:booo:

well your suppose to let the proffesionals take care of that........they were doing it naked on the island for a cause. cant remember what the cause was.. addiction or something.. talk about letting it all hang out..........

i fell 15 feet face first out of a barn loft about 11 years ago.....that hurt alot, still have problems to this day.....

ouch.that would explain things...lol...J/k

I dont like heights too much - but I used to go up here:

Attachment 58637

And here - 340 feet up the stack - 440 to the top (yeah, thats open grating on the platform):

Attachment 58638

And been to the very top of the silos in the distance (a few times).

fiberglass wobble worse than the aluminum. If your doing non electrical work then aluminum and wood ar e the best. most people dont use wood because they are twice as heavy as anything else, but when your humping shingles up I would rather be on a wood ladder over anything else.

Do this a few times :)

nope you would never catch me up there

Id do that.. love that rush! cool shots Evil..

Exactly...and I'm serious too. Go do one jump and if you get a rush from it after you're on the ground you will have no problems on top of the roof's anymore.

Oh yes I could. You cant go anywhere but around in a circle on the walkway so it wouldnt be too difficult. :ha:

It might be worthwhile to buy some gear you can wear and you can tie off at least when you are working on something. Then you can focus on your work and not worry about hanging on. It might not help climbing much, but at least you can do work once you get there.

So you know the difference between a bad golfer and a bad skydiver?

Bad Golfer goes: *Whack!* Damn!

Bad Skydiver goes: Damn! *Whack!*

LOL i know, my next door neighbor has been an OSHA inspector for as long as i can remember.
no we don't tie off at all!

i figured if my boss really starts gittin on my butt about this i might tell him who my neighbor is.. just a little back up plan.

i really like the job. but if it doesn't work out i was offered an other job starting in april moving houses and it pays the the same. even though i don't really like the idea of climbing under a house and jacking it up either, but i'll do it



hey DOC, yer making me a bit light headed thanks for thre pic's :tttt:

I am in the commercial and residential construction business in dallas fort worth area have been for 24 years and have never ever even seen an osha employee much less an inspector also have never tied off to anything not saying its not the right thing to do
we still build job site scaffolding that was rumored to be outlawed and that osha was going to check on us every week and fines would be hefty that was 5 years ago still no osha