Redneck Scaffolding Hack
Sometimes, home repairs are inevitable. Maybe a bird flew into the window, causing it to shatter, or a naughty neighborhood kid threw a brick through it. Whatever the reason, some will try to fix it themselves.
Can’t afford to rent scaffolding to reach said window? No problem! Just round up all of the neighbors’ ladders, grab some duct tape, and voilà ! Just be careful climbing up lest you throw off the balance of your precarious invention.
A New Purpose for Toilets
Maybe you can afford scaffolding. That’s great! But, it turns out the job site you’ve been assigned is a bit small for your equipment. Thankfully, you’re a creative person, and you decide not to let space get in the way of the task at hand.
Let’s just hope that toilet — in addition to bearing the weight of your rear end in your not-so-proud moments — can also take the weight of your delicately-balanced scaffolding and the people on top of it.
A Unique Way to Exit
It’s common these days to see the pilot with a flight attendant or two, thanking you for flying as you disembark. Sometimes, however, your flight was just so awful and passengers are so upset that the pilot needs to make a sneakier escape.
“Nevermind the staircases used to deboard the plane; there’s no time for that! Just bring over the baggage belt because that’s definitely safe,” is what we imagine this pilot said before this moment occurred.
M.C. Escher Stairs in Reality
Have you ever heard of M.C. Escher? If the name sounds vaguely familiar, Google him. He was an artist quite well-known for his optical illusions, particularly “Relativity”, the painting of the wacky stairs going every which direction.
That painting is what we imagine inspired this odd and dangerous staircase. The worker balancing on his heels while texting definitely leaves us with little confidence in the safety of this… monstrosity. His coworkers are praying he doesn’t slip.
No Gloves With Rotating Tools
While power tools have eased the physical exertion needed in construction work, they come with their own share of danger, and therefore safety warnings. One such warning is to never, ever wear gloves when using rotating power tools.
Why, you ask? Because if that glove gets snagged, your hand or arm could get yanked in and easily end up looking like this glove. We’re extremely thankful that his glove is the only thing that got damaged that day!
Do a Small Jump
Getting trapped in an elevator is a lot of people’s worst nightmare. We’ve all seen the films of employees overheating, going crazy, or even trying to escape from getting stuck for hours.
Whoever hung this sign up was too lazy to get the elevator fixed and thought, “Eh, this will work.” Apparently, some older elevators may require a jump to recognize enough weight to move, but we wouldn’t want to be the ones to find out if that’s all it was!
A Very Precarious Ladder
Sometimes, the ladder that’s available to a worker just doesn’t fit the bill. Often it’s too short for them to reach whatever it is they’re trying to reach, leading to dangerous but innovative ways to make it taller.
We have a feeling we’re going to be using the word precarious a lot in this list, and if you looked up the definition in the dictionary, this photo would be right there. This guy is just asking for an accident to happen.
That’s Not How it Works
If you’re at an airport waiting for your flight to start boarding, you may be watching some of the ground crew prepare the plane. So, the last thing you want or expect to see is your plane rolling away from some heavy gusts of wind.
That’s why airports require wheel chocks, or these yellow blocks that are wedged against the wheel to stop movement. Except the wheel chocks are supposed to go in front of and behind the tire! This guy had one job, and he blew it.
Locked-Up Life Preserver
If you’re out for a nice casual stroll next to a river, the last thing you expect is to fall in the water. Yet it happens, and when it does, you’d hope that there’s some sort of life preserver nearby.
What if there is, but the people who work in the area locked it up? You’ll just have to hope that someone saw you fall in and is willing to jump in to save you. We get that people like to steal things like this, but this is dangerous.
Too Many Bricks
As a worker, your boss might send you to pick up some materials for a job. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but when it comes to something like bricks, you’ve got to be careful with the weight.
Must trucks have a carry limit, and this worker clearly did not check what his limit was before loading down the truck bed with way too many bricks. It may be physically possible to drive it like this, but we’re not sure we’d recommend it.
Sketchy Power Washing
A major part of ladder safety is making sure that the ladder is balanced in a stable place. Climbing toward the top of a ladder is already dangerous enough — no one needs to go making it more dangerous.
Someone tell that to this guy! Truck beds are bouncy, and that’s a long drop should the truck roll, throwing this worker off. There’s got to be a better way to power wash the roof. At least he’s innovative.
Just Changing a Bulb
Streetlights are great for humans, since we have really poor eyesight at night. They make us feel safer by not having to worry about what’s lurking in the dark, so it’s annoying when a bulb goes out.
If the city doesn’t have any tools to reach the light that isn’t a precariously (there’s that word again!) balanced stack of pallets, then maybe the lights shouldn’t be so high. That worker was probably shaking in his boots.
Squashed Like a Bug
Cars are heavy. You probably didn’t know that, but it’s true. They weigh a lot, which means that whenever work needs to be done on the undercarriage, workers need to use equipment to safely lift up the car to gain access.
If you can’t afford a top-notch mechanic, just take your car to this guy! You may not even have to pay him, since the way he’d lift your car is so dangerous, he would end up squashed like a bug before long.
Cinder Blocks Solve Everything
Lots of businesses have a loading bay, where trucks are supposed to be able to back straight up to make delivering items easier. These bays, however, are often in tight alleys or lower or higher than the truck itself.
When that happens, they should use a lift. But this worker’s labor foreman was feeling too lazy to move the lift, so he came up with this mess instead. It probably took more effort to balance the cinder blocks than to just move the lift.
Socket Russian Roulette
If you’re having to work through the winter, odds are you’re going to be using space heaters so that you aren’t absolutely miserable and freezing on the job site. But, some heaters are… better quality than others.
What exactly is their plan when they burn out the final socket? It’s like playing socket Russian roulette — which socket will finally be the one to cause a fire? At least a fire would warm them up.
Careful Getting Down
Thought you had seen the last of the ladders? Think again! Since ladders are such an important part of most work, most safety violations involve them. It’s like workers are constantly finding new ways to dangerously balance them.
He might get away with this while on the top rungs, but what happens when he tries to get down? Won’t his weight tip the ladder backwards and send him crashing to the ground? We doubt anyone wants that, especially not the worker.
Elevated Balancing Act
Have you ever wanted to perfect the art of the balance beam, like those gymnasts you watch during the Olympics? We’ve discovered that you don’t need to be the next Simone Biles to do so — you just need to work in construction.
At least the thing he’s carrying will help him balance, but where is the safety harness?! On top of that, balanced boards like this have been known to fall and hurt people walking by below. Everything about this screams, “What on earth?!”
Epitome of Laziness
Some workers take laziness to new levels. They find secret spaces in warehouses to nap on the job, or they drive somewhere they can very easily walk. Or in this case, they drill sitting down.
Aside from using a forklift to lift a person, which isn’t allowed in most work environments, what baffles us is the folding metal chair. If we were going to trust a forklift to support us so far in the air, we wouldn’t do it on a wobbly chair!
Chimney Sweep Takes a Tumble
We all dream of being able to run and leap from building to building, like Spider-Man and other heroes have been known to do. Unfortunately, none of us are blessed with that power, so we have to find other ways to cross gaps.
Today on World’s Worst Ideas, we’re back with another round of “What’s the worst possible way to use a ladder?” Here, it’s barely balanced between the roofs of two buildings! This man is just asking for a tumble.
Wires and Wasps
Stop and think about this for a second — many people around the world are living in massive apartment buildings, all with their own phone lines and wifi connections. That’s a lot of wires that have to end up somewhere.
If the network ever goes down, the poor worker who finds this is going to have a heck of a time trying to sort the cables out enough to find the problem. Add the risk of getting stung by a wasp from that nest above and they’re in for a not-so-good time.
Digger in Danger
Excavators are pretty essential heavy equipment in many construction jobs. They’re sometimes referred to as diggers. But, what happens when an excavator is in a sticky situation with seemingly nothing to dig?
This photo leaves one with more questions than answers, like how this excavator got onto those beams in the first place, and what exactly they’re doing there. Those beams better be strong — and that worker better be a good driver.
Hope and Faith
If we’ve learned anything here so far, it’s that when a worker needs to reach something at a certain height, they’ll get creative in how they achieve it. Here’s another example that really makes you scratch your head.
If it’s hard to tell what exactly your scaffolding is made out of, odds are it’s not very good scaffolding — nor is it safe. We see what looks like a sliding ladder, a standing ladder, and two planks held together with hope and faith.
Let’s Play Warehouse Jenga
If the average person were to take a tour of the average warehouse, we have a feeling they’d see quite a few stacks of boxes or pallets that would have them questioning the safety of the stacks. This is one such occasion.
The smart side of the brain says, “Don’t worry, that sign is unnecessary because this looks scary.” The reckless side says, “Does anyone have a sudden desire to play Jenga?” Let’s just hope the warehouse workers here used their logic.
Ladder on a Backhoe
Have you ever looked at a backhoe and wondered what it could be used for besides digging? Probably not, but it seems some workers out there ask themselves just that.
Welcome back to World’s Worst Ideas! Here to compete with “balanced ladder between two roofs” guy is “ladder crudely attached to a backhoe” guy. We think this might be a tiny bit safer, because at least the ladder is tied to something. It’s still pretty awful, though.
Some People Can Nap Anywhere
It’s pretty common to see air conditioning units on the side of big apartment buildings. What we never really think about is how maintenance workers get out there to work on them if something goes wrong.
What in the world is happening here? Who looks at air conditioning units at least three stories up and thinks, “Man, that looks like a great place to nap!”? We have to assume he’s not the tossing and turning type.
Do Not Double Stack
The last thing any warehouse worker wants is for a stack that’s a little too tall to topple as they walk underneath them. No one wants to go out Tom and Jerry style. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to labels.
It’s safe to say that whoever put the warning labels on those pallets did so for a reason. It wasn’t just to look pretty or because they like the color orange, but rather to avoid a disaster. Whatever worker stacked them this way deserves to be reprimanded.
Glad It’s You, Not Me
While you wouldn’t think of a restaurant or bar as a dangerous place to work, there can be plenty of accidents. People slip on wet floors, harm themselves while chopping ingredients, or fall off ladders while grabbing things from storage.
Anyone who has used one of those step ladders is staring at this photo in horror. They’re so unbalanced as is, let alone when standing on a spot you’re not supposed to stand on. The employee that’s looking at him is probably thinking, “Glad it’s you and not me.”
Acid Watering Can
Working in any environment that requires the use of strong chemicals, like acids, can be scary. There are a lot of rules about how to store the chemicals in order to make sure the wrong things aren’t mixing.
We will admit that we’re not sure what the proper way to store acid is, but we highly doubt it’s a green watering can with “ACID” scribbled all over it. RIP to the plants some clueless worker tried to water with this can.
Don’t Look Down
When workers need to do construction or maintenance at large heights, they’re required to wear a harness or some other form of safety equipment to make sure they’re secure if they slip and fall.
This photo is located next to “stomach-dropping” in the dictionary. This worker is heaven knows how many floors up, wearing flip-flops — and there’s no harness in sight! Whoever took this photo was probably taking it as evidence of this dude’s stupidity.
No Exiting Through Here
A fire is the last thing on our minds when we go to work, but it’s always a possibility, which is why fire safety plans and fire exits are so important. But because most people don’t expect fires, workplaces often block them, even if unintentionally.
Everything about this photo indicates that this exit is an important fire exit — the two signs, and the footprint stickers on the floor leading towards the second door. Locking this is not only dangerous, but likely illegal, and was a poor decision by whoever did it.
Bald Is Bad
Tires are easy to ignore, but essential to the operation of any vehicle. When they start to go bald, a lot of dangers arise — like hydroplaning, punctures, poor navigation, and even longer distances to stop.
This tire is balder than Mr. Clean! But Mr. Clean’s shiny bald head isn’t dangerous, unlike this tire with absolutely no tread left. The worst part is that this worker’s boss told them it “wasn’t a big deal.” Never has a boss told a bigger lie.
Stacking Ladders Isn’t Stable
There are a lot of recommendations for how to use a ladder safely. Facing the ladder, keeping three limbs on it at all times, and keeping your body centered are a few of them. None of them take into account doing this on more than one ladder at a time, though.
We’ve seen ladders balanced on each other perpendicularly before, but never have we seen someone stack ladders like Russian dolls. There’s a first for everything! This is clever but we can’t imagine it’s very stable. This worker needs to ask his boss for a taller ladder.
Wobble While You Work
Some areas have a high demand for large, sprawling homes. These large, sprawling homes require a lot of work, and require working at heights since they’re usually two or three stories tall.
Balancing on very thin wooden planks while using a massive power tool just screams safe, if you ask us. Add to it the fact there’s no safety equipment around, and you’ve got yourself the safest job site in the world, hands down.
Standing Under Forklifts
OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has some pretty clear rules for forklift safety, one of which says — “Never stand near or under loaded forklift tines/forks. Forklifts can drop their load or knock over a stack of materials, causing a possible caught/crush injury.”
This worker decided to ignore that. Sure, it looks like it’s just some cardboard boxes, but that’s still a big enough load that if it shifted in the slightest, he’s in for a very bad time. What’s even worse is that there’s no driver in the forklift.
The Radiation Cone
Being exposed to radiation can have all sorts of scary side effects on the human body. Hair loss, seizures, and terminal illnesses are among the many risks people may face, so if someone were to be exposed, they would want to know.
If someone were at risk of radiation exposure, they’d likely want to know about said risk before they come across this tiny cone — as the radiation definitely isn’t confined to this one little spot. This is the laziest warning ever.
DIY Fixes of Nightmares
DIY fixes and projects are great until they interfere with safety. As a society, we should be less wasteful and we should focus more on repairing things, but ladders that are very broken shouldn’t fall into the DIY category.
There’s janky, and then there’s this ladder. We’re all for making repairs to extend the life of an object, but when it comes to something like a ladder, either repair it properly or get a new one. And what purpose does that wooden triangle even serve?
Plumbing at Any Cost
There are a lot of parts of modern-day life that we take for granted, and plumbing is one of them. It’s so nice to have running water, hot showers, and not have to do our business in a hole in the ground, but rather a nice porcelain toilet.
Here we have a plumber with complete disregard for the structure of the home he’s installing plumbing for. The crazy thing — plumbers cutting through load-bearing beams is apparently extremely common. People find all sorts of crazy plumbing when renovating their homes.
Inspired by Horror Films
Driving near a semi-truck that’s hauling an oversized load is always a little nerve-wracking. Sometimes, it’s massive pipes — and other times, it’s an actual house. Our imaginations always wonder what would happen if the load fell off.
Anyone remember that infamous scene from Final Destination? Those who do would be horrified to be found behind this semi-trailer. This has got to be one of the worst load jobs we’ve ever seen.
Box Towers in Walmart
Walmart is like its own mini world, where you spot people shopping in their pajamas and have other strange sightings day in and day out. And while it’s rare to spot an employee out and about, they are there, stocking the store and doing other tasks.
Some of them don’t do a great job, however. Here we’ve got an actual case of Jenga, since customers clearly can’t reach those fans on top and you can see where they’ve removed fans underneath the towers. It’s only a matter of time before it all topples over.
Odd Sights on the Highway
Sometimes, workers need to travel to a job site or move between sites and simply don’t have enough space in the truck. That’s fine, until they decide to get creative with transporting people instead of just making multiple trips.
It’s worrying that multiple people — the truck driver, the forklift passenger, and whoever is likely occupying the truck’s passenger seat — thought that this was a good idea. It’s illegal, and should an accident happen, all those workers are definitely fired, if not in the hospital.
Trash Can Boost
Sometimes, buildings will face issues in the ceiling space that have to be fixed. If you’re wondering how workers manage to get up there to deal with the problem, you’d think that they use a ladder — but you’d be wrong.
This guy said “Screw ladders!” and just made something up as he went along. And while we appreciate his ingenuity, one has to wonder how exactly he plans to get down without that can toppling and the worker ending up with a broken leg, or worse.
Super Strong Glass
Most of us have probably never thought about how large fish tanks get set up or cleaned. Some of them are big enough that people can physically get inside of them, but others require more… creative methods.
How many clueless workers does it take to clean a fish tank? Two, apparently. It’s definitely a good idea to rest your entire body weight on the rim of a glass tank. Nothing could go wrong there.
Out of Service
The military puts new recruits through all sorts of difficult situations. They have to wake up at ungodly hours, clean in ridiculous detail, and run until they feel sick. But, a lack of fire safety is probably not something they signed up for.
Not only is this very illegal, but it’s also worrying that there isn’t even a date for repairs or a phone number to call. Just because it’s the military doesn’t mean they can get away with anything. Hopefully, it’s at least a small building for a quick escape.
In a society where people are becoming less and less handy, we need people like construction workers, plumbers, and mechanics to pick up the slack. These workers are invaluable, but like in any industry, some of them are not so great at their jobs. We’ve compiled a list of images featuring workers who don’t seem to care about safety whatsoever, so you can scoff as much as we did!