RE: Falling out of treestands
Intresting question and one I will throw around. I teach Hunter Safety Ed here in IL and we are really getting on stand safety these days. I'll see what comes back as far as stats go from any official source.
I would definately guess quite a bit are from poorly maintained wooden stands and poorly designed and/or constructed homemade stands. Far too many guys (dummies) think............"Ah, I nailed that thing together with a ton of 16-penny nails and used wolmanized lumber!" (Hint: They still rot out and the nails loosen.
Steel construction for the tubular ladders I make in my shop and welded. My rungs are fitted into the ladder tube before welded in a slot I cut on the milling machine - then welded. I use plywood for the platforms and they are replaced well before they need it. I have a bunch of spares on hand all the time and they all get new hardware when replaced.
The platforms are fitted with seatbelts for gun hunting otherwise we use harnesses for bow season and standing.
Onemistake I see alot of guys makeis that with wooden platforms they make them flat and level. Putting a bit of a noticeable pitch on them sheds the water and the plywood won't seperate as soon.