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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    395

    Default Stepped thru a skylight

    About 4pm yesterday.
    Was removing some flashing prior to unscrewing roof sheets of iron.
    Stepped back to slide it into the yard below and went straight thru the acrylic skylight.
    Landed on my head and right arm about 3 metres down.
    Conc floor and a bit of junk in the way.
    Havent got back there to figure why I’m not cactus.
    Didnt loose consciousness, walked to the back door.
    Mrs sat me down and wanted to take me to Emergency.
    I was keen, didn’t really feel up to it.
    She messaged my son and he said I might as well sit in a chair in emergency as at home.
    After the covid fluff around to get in they put me in a wheelchair and straight into a trauma bed.
    Freezing in there, guess I was in shock, Dr got me a warmed up blanket.
    Xrays on elbow and cat scan on head and neck.
    Home about 11pm.
    I will post more after a decko, still can’t figure out why I’m still here.
    H.
    Jimcracks for the rich and/or wealthy. (aka GKB '88)

  2. #2
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    7,182

    Default

    Wow, lucky indeed! - it can all happen so easily.

    Hope you check out OK.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    N.W.Tasmania
    Posts
    1,407

    Default

    Hi Clear Out, I echo BobLs comment, and also wish you a speedy recovery. That is definitely not the right sort of short cut you need to take, and I do hope that the rest of this new year is much better for you and your family. Take (more) care,
    Rob.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Mackay North Qld
    Posts
    6,446

    Default

    Ok You are now eligible to join the Fell off (or through) the roof club.I been there and done that,too.

    You are not the first nor the last of us who will probably now heed what the SO says to us about working on the roof.

    All jokes aside I am glad you come out of it with only hopefully minor problems and one hell of a fright.

    Get well soon .

    Grahame

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2020
    Location
    Geraldton Western Australia
    Posts
    132

    Default

    Hope everthing is okay. That's the reason you should have mesh under those sheets, even if it's only a couple of metres high.

    Cam.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Southern Flinders Ranges
    Posts
    1,536

    Default

    Scary stuff.
    Glad to hear you’re still here to tell the tale and largely in one piece.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Cairns, Qld.
    Posts
    70

    Default Skylights

    Yikes! The outcome could have been far worse. I trust that you recover OK.

    We had these acrylic sheets put in at a couple of spots at the local Men's Shed a year or two ago; had to call the roofers/plumbers back to put in the required steel mesh underneath. Very mindful of them when on the roof cleaning solar power panels recently. Thought about painting a big red line around them with a prominent 'No Step' warning. Might save the next poor sod a scare at the very least.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    395

    Default

    A mate who is staying with us walked me back to the scene of my ‘step off’ .
    I really don’t know how I survived as the ladder wasn’t under me.
    I must have pivoted enough as I went thru to fly across and hit the bin and fertiliser bag of rubbish before I hit the conc with my head.
    Sore and shaky and dizzy when getting up but in one piece.
    We reroofed the main workshop about 30 years ago and used wire mesh to hold the insulation up. It has about 6 skylight panels.
    This addition to the annex was a rough job done with what was lying around when I retired.
    The wood lathe was at the back wall so a window in the wall and clear panel above so I could see what I was turning. I’d moved all the wood gear out of the main shop re dust.
    Council has ordered me to demolish it as not legit but I think I’ll slow up for a while.
    My son who’s a sparky can finish the above ground stuff with one of his mates.
    I think I’ll do as the doc said and stay off ladders etc.
    H.
    Jimcracks for the rich and/or wealthy. (aka GKB '88)

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    395

    Default

    I don’t think red lines or anything would have prevented this.
    When I unscrewed and removed the flashing I probably carried it so it obscured my view of where I was walking.
    The clear panel was only one back from the edge I was going to chuck it off.
    So to get to the edge I had to step across the clear panel.
    H.
    Jimcracks for the rich and/or wealthy. (aka GKB '88)

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    505

    Default

    Henry,
    Gave me the cold shivers reading about your fall.
    Have met others that fell from a roof and never walked again, so it's great that you survived the experience without serious injury.
    About the best Xmas + New Year's present you could hope for, and great that it arrived on time.
    Cheers,
    Bill

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Wodonga Vic
    Age
    38
    Posts
    633

    Default

    I reckon those acrylic sheets should have a steel mesh molded into their core by law, it might catch someone before they fall through. worst fall I saw was a plumber walking across A verandah roof and crashing through an acrylic sheet, somebody had painted the roof, sky lights and all...

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Location
    Revesby - Sydney Australia
    Age
    56
    Posts
    1,183

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by clear out View Post
    ...still can’t figure out why I’m still here.
    There are a few rare cars in your workshop that need finishing?



    Henry, glad you are OK, and watch for CoVID symptoms from your hospital visit.



    (I went to hospital on Friday for some stitches. CoVID swab negative.
    That night, ServiceNSW app gives me an alert about CoVID-19 case at hospital.
    Back there this morning with fever and severe vomiting.
    CoVID swab positive.
    It might have been somewhere earlier than that, but I blame the hospital)

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    395

    Default

    Sorry to hear you’ve got it Nigel.
    I was in there for about 6 hours, had a mask on 90% of the time.
    We have friends visiting and he’s had a major health issue so I really don’t want to be responsible for transmitting it to them.
    H.
    Jimcracks for the rich and/or wealthy. (aka GKB '88)

  14. #14
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Rockhampton, QLD
    Age
    68
    Posts
    454

    Default

    Henry,

    Congratulations on surviving your fall, many others haven’t.

    Hope you have a speedy recovery.

    Regards,

    Ross

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    N.W.Tasmania
    Posts
    1,407

    Default

    While your fall was more dramatic than you would like Henry, it is not the most amazing and dramatic fall through a skylight I have read about. Many years ago one of my brothers was into skydiving in a pretty serious way. He showed me a skydiving accident report similar to the reports done by aviation authorities after airplane crashes.
    The situation involved a young woman who was part of a group doing a jump somewhere in the U.K, and when she deployed her chute, it failed to open, and just trailed out above her like a big ribbon. My brother explained that the correct procedure was to "cut away" the failed parachute, and then deploy the emergency parachute. Now I don't think this cutting away had anything to do with knives, it is just a technical term probably meaning that a pin would be pulled, releasing that parachute from her harness, just to get it out of the way, (but I'm not certain on that point). In any case, the young woman did not follow the procedure of cutting away before she deployed her emergency parachute, and when deployed the chute did initially open correctly, but the main chute began to wrap around it and eventually collapsed it. At this point she was plummeting to the ground with two collapsed parachutes trailing after her. Fortunately for her, Lady luck turned up in the nick time. Her fall was initially broken as was her ankle, when she went through the skylight of the aircraft hanger her plane had taken off from, and then the trailing parachutes wrapped around a rafter or purlin, and she pulled up 450 mm from the floor, with the broken ankle, and no doubt pretty shaken, but otherwise O.K. A truly amazing escape from a very sticky end.
    I do hope that you are beginning to feel a bit better after your experience, and it may help with your council issues too, it is certainly a good excuse not to be following their directives for some time!

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