Professional Rope Access

A Guide To Working Safely at Height

Loui McCurley

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781119085447
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Industrial Health & Safety
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Guides the reader in the development and maintenance of a rope access program

• Provides comprehensive guidance for employers, safety managers and rope access technicians to develop, maintain, and manage a rope access program
• Offers specific guidance for writing a comprehensive managed fall protection plan that includes rope access
• Thoroughly describes how to perform specific rope access maneuvers that can be used to offer greater safety when working at height
• Shows how a well-managed rope access program can be used as a tool to get more work accomplished at a lower cost and with greater efficiency than conventional methods can achieve
• Discusses and clarifies unique distinctions of equipment for rope access, as compared with equipment for fall arrest, positioning, and restraint

Section 1

Planning for Rope Access

Chapter 1
What Is Rope Access?

By the end of this chapter you should understand:

• How rope access differs from controlled descent, bosun's chairs, rope descent systems, and other aspirant rope based systems
• Some distinct benefits offered by rope access
• Some capabilities of rope access technicians
• The historical context of rope access
• How to differentiate rope access from recreational rope systems
• The essential components of a rope access system
• The importance of a sternal attachment for safety
• Some examples of work applications where rope access is used
• How rope access can interface with other methods of fall protection
• How to approach the implementation of a rope access program.

1-1 INTRODUCTION

Employers around the globe are charged with a complex task of safely managing safety at height in a wide range of activities and industries, and they are expected to do so in a manner that is effective in terms of both safety and fiscal responsibility. At no point in history has this been more critical to the progression of our society than in this post-global recession. Companies and entire industries as a whole are actively working to find new ways to work more efficiently to make more progress with less (workers, money, time, resources, etc.)

Rope access is a specialized mode of access and protection that site owners and managers frequently turn to as a solution when specially trained, certified technicians have to be deployed to hard-to-reach places with maximum safety and minimal cost.

When workers are engaged in working at height, rope is commonly used as a vertical lifeline to provide fall arrest, thereby preventing catastrophic injury in the event of a fall. Rope access takes this approach to safety one step further, by employing two ropes for the safety of the worker: one rope to support the human load and another independently anchored rope for secondary safety.

The secondary safety used in a rope access system is much more conservative than a typical fall arrest system, limiting both fall distance and transmitted-energy potential to very low levels. Rope access is a method of access that provides the user with the means to safely gain access, be supported, as well as a means of egress from a high place, for the purpose of carrying out work.

The term “rope access” encompasses a fairly broad range of capabilities, but properly used rope access is distinctly unique and stands apart from such concepts known as “controlled descent”, “rappelling”, “bosun's-chairs”, “rope descent techniques” and other colloquial terms that have been at times used to generically describe rope-based methods of working at height.

Rope access is unlike any of these, but is unique in that it provides a complete system of access and safety wherein a properly trained and equipped technician will use a completely interchangeable two-rope system. One rope in the system is designed as the primary or working rope, and the other rope is designated as the backup or safety in the system. In a properly rigged rope access setup, as shown in Figure 1–1, each line is fully capable of serving the role of the other. Specifically, the primary line can be used interchangeably to perform the function of the safety line, and vice versa. This interchangeability is essential to achieve the wide variety of capabilities and depth of safety that is unique to rope access.

Figure 1–1 Rope access requires two independent, interchangeable systems: one for primary access and the other for backup

© vuedici.org/BEAL.

In the rope access system, the primary/working rope in the system is used not only to ascend or descend a rope, but also to perform a range of movements including passing intermediate anchors, moving horizontally through a rebelay or rope interchange, performing emergency escape, rescuing a coworker, and more. The backup rope serves as just that – a safety backup in case the primary rope system should become compromised or even fail.

Why Choose Rope Access?

For many trades, rope access provides an excellent solution for gaining access to difficult-to-reach locations. The extensive amount of knowledge and training that rope access technicians possess, and the highly disciplined and structured system that rope access comprises mean that more complex jobs can often be performed more safely and efficiently, in a shorter period of time, resulting in both monetary and safety benefits.

For example, when the Arizona Department of Transportation wanted to remove a bird nest from the underside of a bridge on Interstate 10 near Tucson, the inaccessible location of the nest posed an extraordinary challenge. With no walking surfaces within reach of the nest, access was not easily achievable. A heavy duty bucket truck with an articulating arm, known as a “snooper”, was initially believed to be the only possible solution, at an estimated cost of over $22,000. Aside from the extraordinary cost, this option would have required lane closures during the work, and would have put workers at risk, in an exposed location, without any back-up alternative for rescue.

After some deliberation, rope access experts were consulted and a system was designed to position suspended workers within easy reach of the nest with 100% backup safety at all times. As an added bonus, the workers were completely self-sufficient and capable of self-rescue and coworker-assisted rescue in case of an emergency – which of course never became necessary. The work was accomplished in less than 4 hours at a cost of less than $4000.¹

While other methods are sometimes available for protecting workers at height, rope access is an especially good choice for temporary access to locations that are difficult to reach, where other methods might cause physical damage or interference to the structure, where the installation and use of other methods would be time consuming or overly expensive, and also where speed or versatility is desired.

For some trades rope access methods can help get a job done more quickly, efficiently, and safely, than would be possible using conventional fall protection methods. Because the techniques and equipment are conducive to low-impact methods, work can be performed without damage to historical or fragile environments. Rope access workers also have less time exposure to heights, thereby increasing safety.

To realize these advantages to their fullest, strict adherence to the principles of professional rope access is paramount. Professional rope access requires more than just a person with a rope and a descender. It is a complete system of work, with specific requirements for effective management and application from start to finish. Anything less than this is not rope access, and will not result in the monetary and safety benefits that exemplify true rope access.

1-2 FOUNDATION AND EVOLUTION OF ROPE ACCESS

The early foundations of the rope access system may be found in mountaineering and particularly in caving, where methods and techniques were developed over centuries for traversing dangerous terrain and negotiating vertical spaces. However, the equipment and techniques employed by today's rope access technician bear little resemblance to the equipment used for recreational methods. For the purpose of professional work at height, rope access meth...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Notes on Contributors
• Foreword
• Your Success
• Preface
• How To Use This Book
• Section 1: Planning for Rope Access
• Section 2: Skills for the Rope Access Technician
• Section 3: Program Administration
• Knowledge Check
• Glossary
• Index
• End User License Agreement