News Archive

We would like to thank all those who attended the London Work at Height Seminar (LWAHS) on its return to the London Guildhall. With guests travelling from as far as the UAE, India and Brazil, the fifth LWAHS was a great success providing an opportunity for industry counterparts to come together to further their professional knowledge and safety awareness of the wider work at height industry.

IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in August 2023.

Darren Williams has recently been elected as the new MECASA

RAC Chair. Darren, the previous Committee Vice-Chair, takes over from James
Falchetto, who has led the committee for the past 2 years.

IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in July 2023

Whilst IRATA International has continued to grow in Member and Technician numbers year on year, the recent tragic event in Australia has highlighted that even with that growth, we continue to be a close-knit community who show support and concern for each other.

Australasia RAC Chair, Troy Beaumont, met with Antarctica New Zealand’s operations and engineering team to discuss IRATA’s safety management system and the current work-at-height requirements for safe operations in Antarctica.

IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in June 2023

Regrettably, IRATA has received information of an incident which has resulted in the death of a rope access technician during their normal working operations. This incident was reported by a member of the Australasia RAC on the 2nd of June 2023 and an investigation by authorities is underway. We will make information available when investigations have been completed.

Applications are now open for the City of London’s Work at Height Innovation Award, which recognises and celebrates those professionals, and their products or services, that have pushed the limits of innovation to promote safer working practices within the work at height industry.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in May 2023:

IRATA is delighted to announce that the 2023 IRATA Technical Event and Conference (ITEC) will return to the UK from Wednesday, 22nd November to Friday, 24th November 2023, hosted at the prestigious Guildhall in the City of London.

IRATA Executive Committee Vice-Chair, Peter Wood, was invited to present

at the Engineering Advancement Association of Japan’s (ENAA) recent
meeting alongside Kariya-San from IRATA member company GRAB LLC. The
ENNA is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to support technological
advancement and resource development within the region and is comprised
of almost 270 member companies across various industries and government
sectors.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in April 2023:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in March 2023:

IRATA’s Mediterranean Regional Advisory Committee (MEDRAC) Chair and Vice-Chair, Sébastien Gilleron and Yvan Clavelier, met with the Direction Générale du Travail in Paris on 10^th January 2023 to discuss rope access in France and to promote IRATA’s safe working practices.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in February 2023:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in January 2023:

We are delighted to announce that IRATA has been granted accreditation to ISO/IEC 17024 by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in December 2022:

IRATA International is backing the Access Industry Forum (AIF) in its campaign to save the UK’s Work at Height Regulations from repeal.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in November 2022:

We are saddened to inform you that on 3rd November 2022, Paul Seddon OBE passed peacefully, aged 82.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in October 2022:​

We are delighted to announce a new member company in Saudi Arabia, Winclex Rope Access Solutions, who recently joined our Association.

We contacted Winclex’s Business Development Manager, Hany Karamany, to ask about the experience of becoming an IRATA trainer member company.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in September 2022:​

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in August 2022:

We are delighted to announce and welcome our first member company in Argentina, American Rope Access S.R.L.. The addition of American Rope Access S.R.L. will bring our member companies in the North and South America to a total of 49 and will help to improve and promote safety awareness in industrial rope access throughout the Western World.
We contacted American Rope Access S.R.L. Director, Marcelo Guedella, to ask him about the experience of becoming an IRATA trainer member company.

Earlier this year, our North Sea Operators RAC Chair travelled to Africa to host a preliminary meeting to initiate the formation of a new IRATA Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) which will be known as the Sub-Sahara Africa RAC.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in July 2022:

​Our previous events were put on hold in response to government guidelines to keep everyone safe from the pandemic, but we are now delighted to announce that our London Work at Height Seminar will be back in 2023. The seminar will be held at the prestigious London Guildhall with a brand-new programme, speakers, exhibitors, and technical demonstrations.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in June 2022:

​​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in May 2022:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in April 2022:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in March 2022:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in February 2022:

It is with a heavy heart that we inform you that Rodney Marage, our General Manager and Company Secretary, passed away on the 2nd February 2022 following a battle with cancer. This announcement has been delayed until now to allow Rodney’s family time to share this tragic news.

As stated in TACS [TC-101ENG] clause 4.3.4:

Rope access Technicians who are upgrading or revalidating shall provide their logbooks to the IRATA Training member company prior to the start of the training course. Where rope access Technicians have lost their logbooks, they shall arrange for a replacement to be issued, completed and verified before training commences.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in January 2022:

IRATA International have updated their signatory shown on IRATA Certification. All new IRATA certificates will be issued with the new signatory, Dr S Kondaveeti (Head of Quality, Audit and Certification) with effect from 24/01/2022. Please see the examples below:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in December 2021:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in November 2021:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in October 2021:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in September 2021:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in August 2021:

IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in July 2021:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in June 2021:

Following a survey of certified IRATA member companies based in 65 countries, the decision was made to transfer IRATA’s paper-based logbook into the digital domain. 73% of the 423 global member companies who responded to the survey want only Certified IRATA Level 3 Technicians and IRATA member company representatives to verify logbook working hours. Level 3 (L3) IRATA technicians will be able to verify work hours regardless of whether they work for an IRATA member company or not.

Two IRATA member companies and their IRATA committee representative (Main Respondent but together referred to as Respondents) misused IRATA intellectual property for their own financial gain thereby breaching trust, confidentiality, relevant codes of conduct and IRATA policy. The Respondents used current exam questions, identical to those used and created by IRATA, in their own website mock-exam software which was accessible on their website for a fee.

Following multiple revisions and testing by a select group of Assessors, IRATA’s long awaited Assessment App is being tested in the field. The App which is expected to be in full use by late 2021 will significantly speed up candidate assessments and verification. The current paper-based system, which has been with us for close to 30 years has served IRATA well but is in need of an update to improve security and accuracy. IRATA’s real-time “Technician Verification” tool, introduced in 2015, has proved successful in reducing certification fraud, but the new digital system will strengthen the integrity of certification. An IRATA training member commented: “I can’t believe IRATA are asking me to do less administration processing. I’m delighted!”. IRATA are delighted too!

An IRATA Trainer member company was conducting rope access operations whilst not holding IRATA Operator membership. The Respondent admitted their wrongdoing, claiming: “the rope access work in question was undertaken as a one-off favor for a local community organization”. The Respondent confirmed that they would immediately cease operational work until they successfully obtained IRATA Operator membership. The Adjudicating Panel determined as follows:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in May 2021:

It was necessary for IRATA International to amend and add additional clauses in their Training, Assessment and Certification Scheme (TACS). These changes relate to unsuccessful candidate assessments and the required timeframe for candidate training, assessment and reassessment. Full details are below. Also, at the bottom of this article are answers to the most frequently asked questions about the changes made to IRATA’s TACS.

ISO/IEC 17024:2012, Conformity assessment — General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons (ISO 17024) is the International Standard relating to the conformity assessment for bodies operating certification of persons. Certification bodies that are accredited to this standard have demonstrated an impartial and rigorous quality approach and their clients can have confidence in the personnel certified through such schemes.

IRATA International’s new Membership Requirements’ will come into effect from 1st July 2021.

This means that, on the 30th June 2021, the use of their ‘Membership Audit Checklist [FM-039ENG]’ will become obsolete for member audit purposes and will be replaced by their ‘Stage 1 Audit Form [FM-333ENG]’. From the 1st July 2021, IRATA Members will be audited against the revised standard - the ‘IRATA Membership Requirements [QP-300ENG]’.

As an association we are still recording an unacceptably high number of dropped object incidents. These are objects being dropped onto, or close to, operatives working below and are quite often dislodged by technician’s ropes whilst manoeuvring.

IRATA Associate member, Rope-Sure, the insurance brand established to provide specialist policies to IRATA trained technicians and organisations that are members of IRATA International, has released an updated product along with an online quote and buy facility to support its customers.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in April 2021:

The United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on 31 January 2020 has created significant changes to the marking of products offered for sale within the UK.

Whilst a transition period was in place until 31 December 2020, as of 1 January 2021 the new system took effect. With regard to product marking, this change means that the old European ‘CE’ marking system shall no longer be valid and is to be replaced with a new ‘UKCA’ mark.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in March 2021:

Regrettably, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted IRATA International’s well-regarded and much-anticipated annual events, resulting in the cancellation of the ‘IRATA Technical Event and Conference’ (ITEC) and ‘London Work At Height Seminar’ (LWAHS), held at the prestigious London Guildhall in conjunction with the City of London Corporation. Contrasting this with the adverse impact to people and companies globally, IRATA Secretary Rodney Marage commented: “compared to how millions have suffered at the hands of COVID-19, it’s an insignificance for IRATA at worst. We’ll be back!”.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in February 2021:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in January 2021:

We are receiving many enquiries about the validity of unofficial websites and Uniform Resource Locators (URL) that are offering rope access training or pointing to websites that offer unofficial rope access training. In many cases, this is resulting in training candidates being misled into paying large sums of money for training that is not recognised by IRATA, FISAT, SOFT and ANETVA.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in November 2020:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in October 2020…

IRATA recognises qualifications obtained from alternative rope access certification schemes where comparative analysis of the syllabus requirements demonstrates a level of equivalency. Approved alternative rope access certification conversion schemes can be found on our website www.irata.org. Please note, to read these documents you will be required to be logged into the members area of the IRATA website.​

An IRATA L1 technician breached the IRATA logbook policy insofar that he self-verified a logbook entry recorded in his IRATA logbook. Further to this, upon inspection of the respondent’s logbook by an IRATA Assessor, the following additional discrepancies were identified:

The long-awaited draft of EN 12841 is now available for public consultation.

EN 12841 “Personal fall protection equipment - Rope access systems - Rope adjustment devices” is an important standard for the rope access industry, applying to rope adjustment devices intended for use in rope access systems.

An IRATA Assessor arrived at a member’s training venue to conduct an assessment whilst under the influence of alcohol. The training venue management determined that he was in no fit state to conduct the assessment and therefore cancelled the planned assessment.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in September 2020…

IRATA International is delighted to announce the appointment of the newly elected Brazil Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) Chairwoman, Lúcia Costa Passalacqua.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in August 2020…

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in July 2020…

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in June 2020…

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in May 2020…

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in April 2020…

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in March 2020…

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in February 2020…

​

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in January 2019:

• Mikiwam Coatings Ltd - Operator - Canada
• Jimcol Resources Nigeria Limited - Operator - Nigeria
• Shenzhen Jierui Engineering and Technology Co., Ltd - Operator and Trainer - China
• Skytrax Rope Access Training and NDT Global Services Private Limited - Operator and Trainer - India
• Smart Screening Technology W.L.L - Operator - Bahrain
• DOST Die Oberflächen Schutz Technik GmbH - Operator - Germany

Wishing you all future success,
IRATA International

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in December 2019:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in November 2019:

As stated in TACS [TC-101] clause 4.13.7:

‘Hours accrued whilst being trained in rope access should be logged, but do not count towards the working hours required to upgrade.’

In order to ensure that there is no confusion between working hours and training hours, please ensure that the hours accrued while being trained in rope access are logged in the Training Section of the logbook.

During IRATA International’s ITEC 2019 in Sydney, Absafe’s Paul Holland gave a presentation titled “Stop the Drops” which captured the attention of attendees, many of whom were astonished by what they witnessed on screen.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in October 2019:

IRATA International will be exhibiting at the A+A International Trade Fair for safety, from the 5 – 8 November 2019 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

On 13^th September 2019 the IMC Golden Shield Excellence Awards 2019, were hosted in the Old Library of the world renowned Lloyd’s of London building. IRATA International were honoured to be awarded the ‘Professional Trade Association - Offshore, Oil & Gas Award’.

It has been brought to our attention that 3M have issued a stop use and recall notice regarding their DBI-SALA® Twin-Leg Nano-Lok™ Edge and the Twin-Leg Nano-Lok™ Wrap Back Self-Retracting Lifelines.​

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in September 2019:

Having provided insurance solutions to the Rope Access industry for the last ten years, I understand the approach that many technicians have to managing the transfer of their workplace risks using an insurance policy. The phrases “just give me the cheapest”, “I only need it for a contract” and “I don’t need that, it’ll never happen to me” have never been so prevalent when speaking with self-employed rope access technicians, meaning the majority of these operators only ever have the most basic insurance coverage, generally for the benefit of third parties.

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in August 2019:

​IRATA International would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest members who were appointed in July 2019:

The long awaited Rope Access Manager Rope Access Safety Supervisor (RAMRASS) course will be trialled in the North Sea Operators and Scandinavian regions. Final preparations are underway and the pilot is expected to commence September 2019.

​IRATA have partnered with the IT service provider who pioneered the computer-based testing industry for decades. The organisation deliver more than 15 million certification and licensure exams annually in every industry from academia and admissions to IT and healthcare. They are the global leaders in developing and delivering high-stakes exams via the world’s most comprehensive network of nearly 20,000 secure test centres in 180 countries. Their leadership in the assessment industry is a result of their collaborative partnerships with a broad range of clients, from leading technology firms to government and regulatory agencies of which are now one.

An IRATA L3 Technician [Respondent] breached an IRATA logbook signing policy by making alterations to previously verified entries recorded in their IRATA logbook.​

It was alleged by an IRATA Level 3 technician [Complainant] that another IRATA Level 3 [Respondent] fraudulently impersonated him by signing technician logbooks entries using the name of the Complainant.​

IRATA International is proud to have been awarded the City of London Work at Height Innovation Award at the recent London Work at Height Seminar (LWAHS) 2019, held at the historic Guildhall, London. The award will become a feature of the annual London Work at Height Seminar; it aims to encourage innovation in the Work at Height sector, with specific regard to reducing risk and exposure to incidents. Provided that the criteria to be considered for the award is met, all organisations and individuals will be eligible to receive the accolade.

IRATA periodically issue safety publications which include ‘Safety Bulletins’, ‘Topic Sheets’, ‘Serious Incident Briefings’ and other occasional urgent safety communications, these are explained in more detail below:

Following another successful London Work at Height Seminar (LWAHS) we are pleased to announce that a compilation of highlights from the day’s events is now available to view on our website.

​IRATA International’s biennial committee elections will commence Friday 13th September and run until Monday 23rd September. Ballots will be conducted for the following committee positions:

Shortly we will be releasing the updated version of the Training, Assessment and Certification Scheme (TACS) which incorporates all training and administrative policy amendments to date. A notable inclusion in the latest revision of TACS, is the requirement for training candidates to be shown the ‘IRATA Edge Management Video’ during training.