As one who was working on a ladder about two years ago and had the misfortune to cause it to fall over so that I was knocked out momentarily and awoke to a broken wrist and a cut under my chin that took four stitches to repair, I can relate. I did two things wrong: not keeping the ladder straight in front of me (it was at a slight angle) and using a drill bit that was a bit dull. I applied too much pressure on the drill motor/bit, and the ladder went one way, and I went the other. It happened the day after I finished physical therapy for rotator cuff surgery! :(
That’s rough. Coulda been worse.
I was trained how to use a ladder by a jobber at an early age. Trained well. There was one thing he never trained me on, however:
Years later, he himself had a ladder fall. By then he’d become rather obese on his large 6’6” frame. He was lucky he didn’t break his back, but disability followed.
That ‘one thing’: Physics. IMHO standard ladders are inherently dangerous to those over 250lbs, fit or not (he was pushing 300). It’s simple physics. A spotter, spreaders or anchors can be lifesaving, to state nothing of safety harnesses (for those trained to use them).