Down Goes Frazier!

It happens to every construction guy at least once a year. There are elevation changes. There is debris. Cords and hoses.

Sooner or later, you’re gonna hit the deck.

I can attest that as an older man, hitting the deck is not good.

Was a bright sunny day today.

I visited a job that had a scaffold about thirty-five feet in the air.

I didn’t have to access the scaffold, I just had to simply walk around it and make sure the setup was good.

I’d like to say that I tripped because I was looking up as I walked, and I didn’t see the 2’ crane mat near the scaffold.

That’s not what happened.

I saw the crane mat, and I had a thought that standing on the mat would allow for a better photo.

I was looking at my feet. I knew I had to step up.

I just didn’t pull it off, and man, I went down hard, dropping my iPad. My phone fell out of my shirt pocket. My hardhat fell off.

And I had an instant panic because my knee hit hard and sent waves of pain to my brain.

The thought I had was:

“Bounce right back up. Maybe no one saw it.”

My knee yelled:

“Stay down!”

And then I heard the worst sentence:

“Are you all right?”

It was coming from above. 

Not God.

The guys on the scaffold were peering over the side.

“Down goes Frazier,” I said, but I instantly understood that they had no clue that I was talking about Smokin’ Joe Frazier as called by Howard Cosell.

Then I followed it up with:

“You can laugh. The safety guy fell down.”

I heard more laughter than I wanted to hear.

I was able to walk it off.

Couple of cuts on my hand.

Knee seems okay.

“That was hysterical,” one guy called down.

“I’m here for your entertainment,” I said.

Bastards.

Don’t even know who Joe Frazier is.