rope access or arb tickets?

[ben_inthewoods]

I'm looking for a view on what tickets are required for the following:

 

Tied to a tree to access very steep ground and ledges for either felling to waste or stem injection. At the bottom of the gorge is a river - gorge is 30-60m deep.

 

Arb tickets and PA1/6a or rope access tickets and PA1/6a?

 

There is rather a lot of this work, 6 miles of bank!

 

Cheers

Ben

[Spruce Pirate]

The last time I asked that question the answer was that so long as you're tied to a tree you're OK with arb tickets (NPTC's). Aerial rescue techniques as applied to tree climbing don't exactly work in this situation though, so you might have to watch on that when doing the risk assessment.

 

When I asked the question (to FC) I got the impression that no-one had really thought about it that much, they were just used to tree cutters having NPTC's and assumed that an arb climbing NPTC ticket would suffice. I think its only a very short step before a health and safety manager somewhere decides that IRATA tickets will be needed.

 

I presume its Rhoddies you're doing?

[ben_inthewoods]

Hi cheers for the reply. I was under the same impression about the fixing point being the key factor, but a couple of arbs have been scratching their chins, which in turn has got me doing the same (the job is at the design stage at the moment with consultation with SNH and FC.

 

The job is removal of beech (small, medium and large) a number a year's work! There are similarities with some of the fc steep ground large conifer work which is a lead to follow.

 

Cheers Ben

[treeplanter]

although its only in the planning stages , if you need a climber for the job feel free to mail me , sounds like a real experience , always up for a new challenge

[Spruce Pirate]

I've done rhoddies, sycamore and exotic conifers in the past on arb tickets (even once did a bit of fencing), but I do think the days of this may be numbered. I think the aerial rescue thing should be alright if you're working with ground below you where you could lower a climber too. The issue would be if you're working in a gully with a river at the bottom, for instance, where a casualty would have to be rescued upwards.