VERTICAL ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW ERA OF ENGINES - 5 min. Reading
The activities through access and positioning with the ropes have been a constant throughout human evolution but as we can remember, they began to take more shape in the area of the Alps in the late 1800s with the introduction of the use of hemp rope. for mountaineering belay systems, with the invention of rappelling by Dulfer and Piaz at the beginning of the 20th century, until the invention of the first descender by Pierre Allain (1943). However, as early as the early 1900s, mountaineers had occasionally been called in to carry out construction work on difficult mountain roads and for urban cleaning of historical monuments, until entering operational fields of assembly, maintenance and cleaning of the industry. The high safety standards applied in these sectors were the component that managed to promote the evolution of work at heights (with or without ropes) and differentiate them more and more from sports and recreational activities. Starting in the 90s, the laws and specific official regulations for vertical work in the industry began to be developed, in addition to the guidelines for the technical certifications of devices, which led to the study and commercialization of new equipment with safety standards much higher. However, in this short modern history of rope work, the changes presented so far were really insignificant, since all of them ended up being the result of modifications of existing techniques or equipment. To this end, we can recall two of the most relevant milestones which were the introduction of the constant use of the double rope (already used occasionally previously) and the creation of certified fall arrest systems (evolution of elevator-blockers with elements of energy absorption), very little if we compare it with the technological development of any other discipline for more than 40 years.
Having touched on some points of history, we can now speak of the future-present of rope work and rescue, that is, of the new engines that for a few years are revolutionizing the human access system, most likely as well as the systems of Winches and hoists were made for manual cargo transportation operations that were almost obsolete or relegated to very limited situations. Beyond describing the benefits of some of these electric motors such as their speed, autonomy and load capacity where there are differences basically between the two models currently on the market such as the Actsafe and the Ronin Lift (better consult their official pages), let's go to touch on some of the relevant aspects that entail that true revolution of which we are talking and we better stay in the technical field leaving the marketing to professional salesmen:
1. Speed: can you imagine climbing 100 meters of rope in less than 5 minutes? Of course, nobody can do it because there is no human person with such capacity, much less, considering that you can do it with all your equipment hanging (regardless of how much it weighs) and without any effort. The result of this enormous advantage is that vertical work takes turns 4 times faster and this I could find out personally and indirectly through the opinions of companies that adapted these equipment, in vertical work, technical rescue, adventure park operations and more. Recreational activities. As time is one of the most precious resources, it is easy to understand the great opportunity to lower costs that these equipment entail.
2. Load capacity: Raising loads of almost 200 kilos with a button is something that does not allow comparisons with any other rope ascent system on the market that literally takes turns obsolete. Rescue professionals cannot forget the time-consuming, tedious and ineffective of canyon victim recovery operations, which may require many technicians, crew reliefs, and dozens of hours of work. Fortunately, these operations can already go down in history and of course in the great experience of the vertical technicians since today rescues are extremely more effective and offer greater possibilities of saving the victims or reducing the reported damages, which we can all thank
3. Safety: Occupational health is a broad spectrum subject that does not only study accidents and their immediate damage. Among the factors that can harm a worker's working life there are also illnesses that slowly and silently seek the early retirement of professionals. From recent studies we now well know that musculoskeletal injuries caused by rope work derive from operations that unfortunately are far from modern ergonomic criteria. Using an automatic access device implies reducing efforts, exposure times and probabilities of the famous inert suspension syndrome arising or exacerbating.Now that we know that ergonomics is part of an occupational health system within vertical operations, are you going to keep skimping on security?
4. Versatility: Automatic rope access systems perform the joint work of a descender and two elevators (with all their connectors, lines and stirrups), without the need to execute maneuvers to change devices; In addition, it replaces any lifting system either with pulleys or pre-assembled. As they are considered machinery for human elevation, they can and are usually used for any industrial work, in arborism, in rescue, in tactical operations, for the operation of adventure parks and also for recreational and tourist activities such as cave descents, bungee jumping, bungee jumping. jumping, etc. in short, for any existing heights activity and of course for the new ones that will come from this very new system.
5. Accessibility: as we have seen, the use of a motor allows to reduce the level of difficulty and physical demand of vertical interventions and quite a lot. This ensures not only that more people can be included in these tasks by performing them safely, since the decrease in the probability of an accident triggered by human error turns out to be less for any worker, by making operations simpler and more efficient for everyone.
6. Cost-benefit: Automatic ascent equipment is expensive, but considering all of the above, it turns out to be an excellent investment, because throughout its high efficiency it pays off, reducing operating times and expenses in a very impressive way. It is also worth remembering that by not including plastic or textile parts, the motors are practically indestructible and the mechanical components that could wear out over time, are always replaceable in a simple periodic maintenance that in many cases turns out to be much faster than any other. another system (approximately 10 days for Ronin Lift).
CONCLUSION
Now it is easier to understand the reason why many companies, vertical technicians, rescue institutions, military forces, adventure parks in many countries of the world have undoubtedly replaced classic equipment with automatic lifting attachments to operate in certain contexts. Of course, the engines are not yet capable of performing any maneuver and of course it is highly recommended that they are always operated by well-trained vertical technicians or operators also based on the classic criteria and procedures for rescue, rope access and safety at heights. However, it is already very clear to all professionals that for some work of a higher magnitude or high risks it may be necessary to consider the use of any of these motors in access or extraction operations, this also to operate in compliance with the legal framework which requires the use of the safest systems as appropriate.
Author: Franco Grasso
Director of the IWR Academy and Ronin Lift Mexico
Head of the Vertical Rescue Area of Los Topos Birta
Director of the ItalianTREK National School of Mountaineering and Alpine Rescue
CTS-AIOLaF - STPS - CE - OSHA - SPRAT - IRATA - ISA - GWO - ARIM-CONACYT - RENEC-CONOCER - ITRA
www.IWR-Mexico.com
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