Stool Safety

[digitS']

I have been painting. The bed that was in our guest bedroom went with my son, who had slept on it for awhile and has been doing a lot of moving around the last 5 years: Oregon, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Washington State!

The bed and frame were just a few years old and it was DW's idea to buy a new frame & mattresses. She sure went about the shopping for them in a strange way . First the mattresses, that made sense. Then, the frame . . . after learning that they are (still) several hundred dollars . . . she went off to the thrift stores. Finally, finding one that seemed barely okay, she learned that the thrift store had a special 50% off sale the next day - Friday. She immediately made the decision to buy one of the new frames she looked at 2 months ago .

Friday morning the furnace fails! Before the furnace guy got there --- we rush off to the thrift store to buy the old frame!!!

I've been painting on the old frame ever since . . . sitting on one of the stools we bought 2 years ago when I painted the living room .

Except for the south room and utility room with their "modern" 8' floor-to-ceiling walls , this house has 9' walls. I thought I should have a little 12" ladder to paint the living room. I promptly fell right thru one of the "Kitchen Stools" . ! It broke in 3 pieces ~ suddenly, without warning ~ luckily, just leaving me standing upright on the floor!

What the heck is a kitchen stool for, except standing on??! The only way for me to tip the scales at 200# exactly, is to take my clothes off. Exactly 200# breaks the stool! I put the experience down to continuing my efforts to keep winter weight off! It did make me mad, tho' .

Now, I have NOT stepped on the remaining stool once. I'm just sitting on it . . . it breaks!! Where are the standards for these thing??! You know dang well if they leave this all to lawsuits -- the corporate fat cats who made and sold these things will never be touched! The d**n company that put these crappy things together probably existed for all of 18 months and then they closed their Chinese plant, got in their corporate jets, and flew back to Bentonville, Arkansas !

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

I have one of those Little Giant ladder which is as good as they claim. But it was pricey. They sell them at Home depot now. We recently bought one of their step stools which is great for small in home projects. I know 3 people who had serious ladder injuries-one paralyzed. Safety is number one. Hope you did not get badly hurt Digits.

 

[digitS']

. . . only my pride . . .

digitS'

 

[OldGuy43]

I'd contact the manufacturer. They'll probably be so afraid of a lawsuit that they'll send you a new one.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yeah, I'd take them back but to get my money back, not to get a new one. If two out of two break like that, I'm not getting on a third one.

If you don't tell them something is wrong, they'll keep selling them. They might anyway but at least you have done what you can to protect other people.

Just over three years ago my wife was on a step-ladder in the kitchen getting something out of the top shelf in the pantry. She forgot which step she was on, thinking she was on the bottom step but was two up. She had a hairline fracture in her left arm. I watched the New Year's Eve bowl game (Arkansas vs East Carolina in the Liberty Bowl) in the emergency room. I watched the entire game in the emergency room. They were busy that night.

So, yeah, be careful. Glad you are OK. Pride heals a lot faster than bones.

 

[digitS']

I don't really know where they came from!

The painting of the living room was 2 years ago. I shouldn't have just put it down to a "life's lesson" and, instead, made some noise about it.

It has only been in recent years that I have written ONE letter of complaint to a corporation about what I considered a safety issue or anything. It was my wife's shampoo bottle. Yeah. It was nearly full and fell right at 24" into the bathtub. (I just measured again). The plastic bottle immediately split but I couldn't see that. The next time the curtain was pulled back, there was a puddle of shampoo in the bottom of the tub. Surely others put their shampoo bottle on the edge of the tub. If they can't fall into the tub from there (not tossed, just bumped), how safe are those bottles? I think they cut corners on quality just a little too far.

Didn't fall that time either. Imagine stepping into a tub with the shower on full and there is shampoo all over the bottom of the tub! . . . and, an empty bottle of 'poo on the edge :/. Oh, of course, I never heard back from the corporation. I won't mention their name, just nod in the direction of the Proctor and Gamble table . . .

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

And I always thought kitchen chairs were for standing on.

When I was a teen my mom stood on a chair to get into an upper kitchen cabinet, stepped off and onto one of her shoes that she had kicked off, fell and broke her arm. I remember her sitting on the floor and my sister asking her if she wanted an aspirin.

I don't know why that has always struck me as funny, my dark sense of humor I suppose. At least my sister was trying to be helpful, I just got woozy and joined my mom on the floor.


Edited to clarify that I didn't think it was funny that my mom broke her arm. It's the picture of my sis handing out aspirin for a broken limb that always does it to me.

 

[lesa]

Gee, Steve- that story could have had a much sadder ending! (More like Thistle's Mom). Thank goodness you weren't hurt! Time to invest in a real step stool...

 

[baymule]

Pride goeth before a fall.

Sorry, couldn't resist. Glad you weren't hurt. A collapsing stool like that is dangerous, it could have been much worse.

 

[Carol Dee]

I am so sorry, but this thread has left me giggling for some reason! Maybe because no one was hurt and you all have such a wonderful gift for story telling! thistle, I have a standing on a chair story, too. It was not funny at the time for my Sister, though. Her boys where little and she went to another room to hang curtains while they watched catoons. Next thing she remembers she came to on the floor with a goose egg on the back of her head. The boys say they never heard her fall ?!?! When she tells me this she admits to standing on a chair and says *Don't tell Mom.* (you know how Mom's always tell you stuff like never stand on a chair, etc...) Steve I weigh more than you do. So it looks like I will not trust those weight limit labels. Glad you are o.k.