Future Darwin Nominees?

Images showing astounding disregard for safety.

The first and second seem a little fishy to my (untrained) eye.

HT

Originally Posted by Hypno Toad

Images showing astounding disregard for safety.

The first and second seem a little fishy to my (untrained) eye.

HT

Judging from http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/pho...ve/default.htm those look real. Never underestimate human stupidity.

[Thebobo]

Originally Posted by Hypno Toad

Images showing astounding disregard for safety.

The first and second seem a little fishy to my (untrained) eye.

HT

The second one seems to defy the law of physics. How can anybody hold a ladder like that with a person on it. In fact I would think it would be hard without a man on it.
Some are obvious Photoshops but I can see #3 and #7 as something a few people would be dumb enough to try.

[Missie]

Originally Posted by Hypno Toad

Images showing astounding disregard for safety.

The first and second seem a little fishy to my (untrained) eye.

HT

The first one doesn't seem weird to me, it doesn't look obviously shopped, but it's possible that the "bomb" (if that's indeed what it is) is either not dangerous (deactivated) or, well... not a bomb.

I agree that the second one seems really hard to believe though. I didn't look at it hard enough to check for signs of photoshopping, but it seems pretty impossible nonetheless.

[Stoneage Dinosaur]

A photo of what appears to be the forklift accident from a different angle is on this site (near the bottom of the linked page).

[Eddylizard]

Re the first picture (the forklift one) that has happened many times. I've only seen it happen once personally and that involved a powered pallet truck rather than a cantilever truck. Luckily in the one I saw, the only thing the bloke hurt was his pride.

The usual scenario is that a lorry driver backs onto a loading bay. Whilst his trailer is being loaded/unloaded, there is some confusion, the driver thinks he is okayed to go, and drives away from the bay - whilst the poor git driving the Mechanical handling equipment (MHE) is driving into the trailer. Forklifts and pallet trucks are normally driven backwards with the load behind the driver because one cannot see what's approaching otherwise, but for that last bit of loading or stacking, you have to turn the truck around, and tentatively go forewards and trust to a bit of luck.

There are safety procedures in place like traffic lights on the bays, and taking the drivers keys when he books in and only giving him his keys back when the bay manager authorises, but these fail sometimes.

I've also worked in places where MHE drivers were under so much pressure to move a certain amount in a certain time that they disregarded the basic safety rules. The most striking was a guy who destroyed a good portion of a fire wall by moving with his forks up (basic no-no.) It was sriking because it had been retrofitted to the warehouse, cost a fortune, had taken months of disruption to construct and the contractors had only finished about a week previously.

[One-Fang]

I swear I've heard the backstory of the first one before, but can't remember any verifying details.

The last one doesn't look at all dangerous to me. The digger ain't going anywhere, and if anything, the base of the ladder is more secure in that bucket than on the ground - it can't move backwards and bring the whole thing down. Those diggers can support a wee bit more than the weight of one human and a ladder.

[Eddylizard]

#9 "Now what? The second forklift driver isn’t even at the controls!"

Yes they're using the large cantilever truck to raise the smaller cantilever truck to an upper level of the warehouse. It's never been done before, and I doubt it ever will be done again.

Agreed the guys guiding it shouldn't have been standing on it at the time.

The first one could be real, but the second one is insanely fake. Some of the others just don't make any sense, but that doesn't mean they can't be real...Some of them are pretty funny though.

[Fanatic]

Two more fun ladder pictures start here; that site also has other examples of Darwin attempts, Darwin near misses, and other weirdness (some of which have appeared here before, I think.)

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Fanatic

Two more fun ladder pictures start here; that site also has other examples of Darwin attempts, Darwin near misses, and other weirdness (some of which have appeared here before, I think.)

Picture 2 with the ladder in the bucket scoop doesn't look terribly hazardous - no more so than placing a ladder on solid ground and climbing it unless someone moves the scoop or the tractor while he's up there of course, but there's no-one in the cab. The bucket isn't going to move under the weight of the man and the ladder, and the ladder is braced at the correct angle against the telephone pole. That the ladder doesn't have anyone footing it shhouldn't be an issue since the base of the ladder is already held in place by the back of the bucket.

How he got the ladder up there I don't know.

[Keeper of the Mad Bunnies]

The second picture of the person 'supporting' the ladder may not be photoshopped. Unfortunately the picture doesn't have enough detail to tell for sure, but I think the ladder may be hooked at the top to the building. The person at the bottom would be steadying the ladder, rather than supporting it.

James Powell

The second picture of the person 'supporting' the ladder may not be photoshopped. Unfortunately the picture doesn't have enough detail to tell for sure, but I think the ladder may be hooked at the top to the building. The person at the bottom would be steadying the ladder, rather than supporting it.

I'm thinking the same thing...if you enlarge the image there does appear to be a hook just under his left armpit. And there's a clothesline and a plant / AC stand mounted on the wall below him, the guy below could be holding the bottom of the ladder away from these.
Unfortunately almost any of the others can be seen here on a daily basis.