Safety Rope for MEWP

[Billhook]

I have a 17 metre Simon Topper MEWP.

Good machine, well built and stable.

I do like to fix a line on to whatever I am working on as an additional safeguard in case the machine should malfunction or topple or maybe someone collides with it while I am up there.

 

At the moment I have a rather large and cumbersome fall arrestor. Never had to use it thank goodness but even if it was in action it would leave me alive but suspended 17 metres in the air.

 

Is there a better solution using a line system. I am not a climber and at over 60 a little too old to want to start. I have abseiled for charity and was hoping that one of you could recommend the best system for arresting my fall and then allowing me to lower myself to the ground in the easiest fashion.

[treequip]

Best practice would have you secured to the basket

 

if you rope in to the object you are working on you could end up taking a big pendulum swing or, if you toped into both, having your PPE pulled in bits before you fall

 

not a good way to go, stay with the accepted wisdom on this one

[Ian Clarke]

Second what treequip said but I would also add. Get ur work colleague to know how to lower the basket from the ground and get them to practice it every once and a while so its fresh in their mind. I think that would be safer and quicker than trying to exit a bucket.

[geoff]

Rope yourself to the basket, not the tree, I always carry an abseil rope in case of mewp failure, and would use this to get down if there was a big problem.

Make sure the ground staff can operate the mewp from below if needed.

[Billhook]

Rope yourself to the basket, not the tree, I always carry an abseil rope in case of mewp failure, and would use this to get down if there was a big problem.

Make sure the ground staff can operate the mewp from below if needed.

 

I think that abseil rope system is what I need.

It is not so much trees and chainsaws where I would have someone on the ground, but I use it a lot for painting and maintenance work on gutters, electrics etc where I may be in one position for some time and it is a bit tedious for someone to stand and watch paint dry.

 

On a few occasions I have extended the boom and one of the legs has moved a fraction and cut out the hydraulics on the microswitch. Usually a phone call and half a wind on the leg jack is all it needs but I have a rope just in case. The rope is not obviously as good as an abseil system hence my question about the best one to buy.

 

I cannot see why having a fall arrester strapped to a stout branch or other anchor point above where I am working is a bad thing.

If there is a catastrophic hydraulic/mechanical failure or the ground gives way under a leg or someone drives into it surely it is better to let the basket fall the 17 metres beneath you rather than go with it, even if it does mean you are left dangling, scared but alive!

[Dean Lofthouse]

I always carry a rope to descend if theres a fault on the machine and it cuts out, its much quicker to get to the ground and see to it than have a groundy spend half an hour pumping the descent handle.

 

Theres absolutely nothing wrong with anchoring into the object or tree you are working on, if you are going to be doing stationary work, but you really do need either some rope training or experience. You can only anchor on to one or the other ( Basket or tree) and need to be able to assess your actor point for suitability.

 

I anchor in to alternative points rather than the basket under certain conditions such as knocking out a large top or limb, wheres theres a chance it could hit the mewp. The most important thing is to use your common sense.

[kimtree]

I presume that you are wearing a harness

 

I have 20 metres of rope and a petzl stop device in a drybag permentley fixed on my Nifty 17 lift for the many occasions that i have had to bail out

 

Works as intended

[Billhook]

I presume that you are wearing a harness

 

I have 20 metres of rope and a petzl stop device in a drybag permentley fixed on my Nifty 17 lift for the many occasions that i have had to bail out

 

Works as intended

 

Thanks for this reply and for the one from Dean

 

Yes I always have a full harness and I have done an abseil course though never bought the equipment.

The 20 metres of rope and petzi sounds reasonable.

 

The only advantage of my heavy fall arrester is that allows quite a bit of movement but will lock in a second whereas a rope would need to be fairly slack to give me the equivalent movement which may mean a small fall or swing should the basket drop away.

 

Are there any fall arresters that once they have saved you, allow a steady descent if you pull a lever?

[Stock]

I have a 17 metre Simon Topper MEWP.

Good machine, well built and stable.

I do like to fix a line on to whatever I am working on as an additional safeguard in case the machine should malfunction or topple or maybe someone collides with it while I am up there.

 

At the moment I have a rather large and cumbersome fall arrestor. Never had to use it thank goodness but even if it was in action it would leave me alive but suspended 17 metres in the air.

 

Is there a better solution using a line system. I am not a climber and at over 60 a little too old to want to start. I have abseiled for charity and was hoping that one of you could recommend the best system for arresting my fall and then allowing me to lower myself to the ground in the easiest fashion.

 

Have you had MEWP's and Working at height training?

[Jackalope]

Have you had MEWP's and Working at height training?

 

Here come the Fun-Police