Lofting poles stop / lock buttons

[Bobba]

The stop / lock button which locks poles together is missing from one of the pole sections of my mates poles. He doesn't normally use all of his poles, so normally it doesn't matter, but today he used all of his poles.

All was OK putting the decoys in place. Recovering the decoys was a different matter. On one of the highest decoys the counterweight came down leaving the decoy in the twigs. He attempted to nudge it out with an up and down movement of the poles. During that process the top 4 poles became disengaged from the pole in his hand. The joined 4 poles dropped vertically some 6 feet into his bottom lip. A real mess. Massive cut and blood. If there was a good side it didn't break his teeth and,more importantly, it didn't drop into his eyes!!

At the time of posting this he's sat in the local casualty unit requiring micro stitches.

Thought I'd post this as a lesson learned and a cautionary tale for PW members that the stop buttons are there for a reason.

[missmoreandmaster]

OUCH

 

I hope he is ok , at least no massive dentist bills

 

Martin

[oliver90owner]

Not too many sympathy messages, so I will make an observation.

 

While one is glad that the injuries were not more serious, there is a moral to the story. If it broke, fix it.

 

An analogy that came to mind was cars in the distant past. Single circuit brakes were replaced with dual circuit systems on safety grounds and was a huge step forward in terms of car safety.

 

But prior to that change there was a difference between sudden, unexpected brake failure on a well maintained vehicle and the other end of the spectrum where a car was being driven while the draking system was known to be defective.

 

Unfortunately in these days of installed safety features, some have lost the ability to think safety for themselves. I grew up in the days where you needed to look after your own safety and was taught how, and what to look for, when operating machinery.

 

I trust this thread will get across the message of safety being at least partly down to the operator. Using guns in an unsafe manner can be lethal. Either to the user or to third parties. How many buy a chain saw but not the proper PPE?

 

I've seen many instances in my lifetime (and taken a lot of short cuts myself, I will admit). Sometimes extra precautions are a necessity.

 

One of my poles lost its button. I simply cut two slots on the swage and fitted a clamp, for when I might have needed it. Took me only a few minutes (angle grinder, with cutting disc, and a jubilee clip). Worked at the time.

 

RAB

[pegasus bridge]

Get rid of the metal poles are try a fibreglass telescopic pole,

[kenholland]

made mine from bit's and pieces from fishing section at cheque exchange's round about.

[blankfirer]

you can pik em up from go outdoors the internal clips another note my mate used to be a scaffolder and they used to drop the poles down he looked up and a pole hit his nose knocked em out made a mess of his nose