Fall Arrest Harness
- Thread starterspydee
- Start date
avkid said:
What, no Petzl...
Seriously, I have to disagree with this somewhat. How do you tell a 'good' rigging company from a bad one without considerable experience? Also, is a sales person going to sell you the best solution, or the closest one he/she has?
This is not black-box solution technology. Even with the best gear you can use it improperly and die or sustain serious injury. There is no substitute for proper and comprehensive training. Instead of going to a seemingly reputable sales person, I would strongly suggest looking into something along the lines of this:
http://www.etcp.esta.org
Standardizing practices and training for any industry is hard and prone to ups and downs, but this has been a pretty solid effort. Again, why trust your life to something whose limits and constraints you do not fully understand? Or why put others lives on the line based soley on something learned word of mouth from peers?
-jjf
Ok, but if a company were to do a rigging system for you (no matter if it's good or bad) the company still has to stand behind it. After they build it, it is certified by whoever, and they should be responsible for the training on the system. This makes them responsible if the system were to break when you were using it properly.
Sure it would be nice to have a rigging system done right and you know it's done right because you built it and tightened every bolt to so many foot pounds. But, that would make you responsible for it until it would go under any modification. In short, you build a system yourself and it's your ass.
Sure it would be nice to have a rigging system done right and you know it's done right because you built it and tightened every bolt to so many foot pounds. But, that would make you responsible for it until it would go under any modification. In short, you build a system yourself and it's your ass.
MHSTech said:
I think you are missing the point. The gear can be in perfect order and perfectly installed but if you don't use it correctly (and 'incorrect' can be something as subtle as how a carabiner is aligned), you can die.
I have seen two stage fatalities first hand since 1978, as well as a badly broken back (cable truss ladder was improperly attached). When you are 20' or more off the ground, death is an obtainable goal. If you haven't been properly trained to a reasonable industry standard, you shouldn't be up in the air.
This is the way Canada looks at it and much of the EU is well on its way down the same path. I'm surprised to see so much resistance here to industry certfication efforts in the US, but maybe some lessons are hard to pass on without direct experience.
In any event, I've said enough on the subject.
-jjf
Hi,
I'm not sure if you are still shopping. If so, I'd like to chime in. I, like you, don't have any interest in 'supplied' harnesses unless I am forced to wear one. I purchased a Yates harness a few years back. It is a rescue-oriented harness that is a bit heavier than some, but it is quite comfortable and I would much rather be hanging in it, rather than a basic one, if I take a fall. It also 'looks' substantial enough that I have never been questioned about wearing it over one that was supplied. It wasn't cheap, but I don't plan on buying a bunch of these. Here is a link to one supplier:
http://www.rescuetech1.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=191
Good Luck!!
Todd
I'm not sure if you are still shopping. If so, I'd like to chime in. I, like you, don't have any interest in 'supplied' harnesses unless I am forced to wear one. I purchased a Yates harness a few years back. It is a rescue-oriented harness that is a bit heavier than some, but it is quite comfortable and I would much rather be hanging in it, rather than a basic one, if I take a fall. It also 'looks' substantial enough that I have never been questioned about wearing it over one that was supplied. It wasn't cheap, but I don't plan on buying a bunch of these. Here is a link to one supplier:
http://www.rescuetech1.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=191
Good Luck!!
Todd
saxman0317
Active Member
Honestly, the idea of equipment not crossing between repelling, etc. and fall arrest isnt exactally true. The stuff that a tower manager would be rigged in at the top of a repelling tower is exactally the same type of equipment that someone in a hanging rig would use in a show. The same lanyards, same class a harness (full body) same lines. Granted that its not the same as far as what you would use in the typical act of repelling and climbing and such unless your doing it to an extreme end, but its all the same. As far as getting equipment, always make sure that your talking to someone thats used this type of gear before and not some random salesperson. Ask the person if they woud be willing to take a fall in it honestly and find out what kind of pratical experance they have. Or, even better, take someone neutral along with you that you know has lots of experance. (as a side note, if you look at suploers that sell to emergancy services and such, you can almost always be alittle more sure that its going to fit oshea and such regs.) Also, its just a personal thing....but i always tend to want to use my own harness. Make sure that you have the proper documentation that shows its usable though with you. Its just one of those little trust myself more than others things that i like. That abd you know what its gone through. Always cheak your gear before use though. Check harness for fraying, cuts, or wearing..ropes/laynards for the same...and carabiners and rigging systems for stress marks and cracking/rust.
Last edited:
jacobbiljo
Member
man i see why this is a blocked topic
wow
wow
FxDrew
Member
I glanced over this thread, but if you are a rigger that is going to hook up with a production company (and not take side rigging gigs), they often supply all the fall arrest protection you need. I would understand if you would want to own your own stuff if you freelanced or if you didn't trust the gear supplied. If you were going to get your own harness, I suggest the Petzel C67. It's really comfy, but spendy (but you can't put a price on safety.. well.. yes you can cause this harness is gonna cost you around $280). You can check out the harness at http://www.toolsforstagecraft.com/n310.htm
Tools for Stagecraft is a really spiffy site, but I suggest browsing the site, finding what you want, then froogle it (http://froogle.google.com/ is tun by Google, but only searches for items you can purchase)
Tools for Stagecraft is a really spiffy site, but I suggest browsing the site, finding what you want, then froogle it (http://froogle.google.com/ is tun by Google, but only searches for items you can purchase)
thebikingtechie
Active Member
I am the student in charge of the tech department at my school. We just got a new adult in charge. Though she's a great person, she's the dance teacher and knows next to nothing about tech. She has been making an effort to improve our safety procedures and as part of that we have been considering buying a safety harness for working with our genie aerial lift. We have the kind that just goes straight up and down and is stationary (not a scissor lift). The problem is we don't know where to start. I have read through this thread and have not been able to find the right info. I know that we will want to talk to a professional but I was wondering a)who can we talk to and b)how would a simple system for going up about 20 ft work? We are just studennts going up and down working on lights. Though we want to be safe we don't have enough money, need, or space to install a complete system. Any advice would be much apreciated
I Pm'd a few retailers good sources.
Find one her or elsewhere recommended by others as local to you as possible or if buying from a company not local to you, see if they can recommend a supplier closer to your location. This or recommend an local professional rigger that can come out and properly rig the system and instruct on it's use. Could also contact the IA about sending out a rigger for doing this. The sales person potentially could do all of this, depends upon who is doing it and how much more it would cost.
Have the rigger who ever is doing so give a demo for all intending to use the gear and perhaps have that person come back every year to re-teach.
In figuring out what you need, explain what you are looking to do and the situation to the sales person. Pre-write it out so you don't forget details, take your time with explaining also - you are going to spend some money, it's worth taking your time. The sales people should know all the products available and given your system will put forth some recommendations including that if there is both big and small people attempting to put the harness on, either get a few in the proper sizes or get one that is highly adjustable. That harness needs to fit properly to work.
They will also be able to do the math on what size of lanyard if at all will be needed for the fall. Don't want a lanyard that allows your rear to hit the floor before it's done deploying. Could be a web strap reel instead that would work better. Pull on it too fast and it stops reeling out the belt, otherwise it's much like a tape measure. That's what I did for our own above the storage racks potential of a 15' fall. Had the sales person advise on a few products between horizontal life line and vertical fall arrest and after reading each manual I chose which system I wanted. It's a completely different system than we use for productions - had no idea such a system existed until the sales person told me.
I specified the height which is very short for a fall arrest system, the application etc of a 80' span we would be walking along, the sales person than figured out what would work.
Find one her or elsewhere recommended by others as local to you as possible or if buying from a company not local to you, see if they can recommend a supplier closer to your location. This or recommend an local professional rigger that can come out and properly rig the system and instruct on it's use. Could also contact the IA about sending out a rigger for doing this. The sales person potentially could do all of this, depends upon who is doing it and how much more it would cost.
Have the rigger who ever is doing so give a demo for all intending to use the gear and perhaps have that person come back every year to re-teach.
In figuring out what you need, explain what you are looking to do and the situation to the sales person. Pre-write it out so you don't forget details, take your time with explaining also - you are going to spend some money, it's worth taking your time. The sales people should know all the products available and given your system will put forth some recommendations including that if there is both big and small people attempting to put the harness on, either get a few in the proper sizes or get one that is highly adjustable. That harness needs to fit properly to work.
They will also be able to do the math on what size of lanyard if at all will be needed for the fall. Don't want a lanyard that allows your rear to hit the floor before it's done deploying. Could be a web strap reel instead that would work better. Pull on it too fast and it stops reeling out the belt, otherwise it's much like a tape measure. That's what I did for our own above the storage racks potential of a 15' fall. Had the sales person advise on a few products between horizontal life line and vertical fall arrest and after reading each manual I chose which system I wanted. It's a completely different system than we use for productions - had no idea such a system existed until the sales person told me.
I specified the height which is very short for a fall arrest system, the application etc of a 80' span we would be walking along, the sales person than figured out what would work.
