Observations on a rope access incident reported issued by the Australian Rope Access Association.

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August 2008

'TESTS ON BACKUP SYSTEMS UNDER RESCUE LOADS TO REPLICATE RISKS ENCOUNTERED DURING ROUTINE TRAINING' were proposed by and carried out with equipment and facilities provided by Spanset Ltd, during an IRATA Assessors Workshop

The following advice is given even though the situation described below is highly unlikely to occur

SHUNT GUIDANCE

WARNING: If there were working rope failure during a two-person rescue, a shunt is likely to slip many metres if used in a regular way (ie. slack back-up lanyard/approx fall factor 1)

For users of ALL back-up devises [but particularly shunts] the following advice would be helpful: -

It is good practice at all times to minimise slack in the back-up lanyard, but especially during a two-person rescue. Keep the potential fall distance to an absolute minimum by having minimal slack in the back-up lanyard. [January 2008]