Procedures for Climbing with Fall Arrest Equipment

[Hatteras]

The utility where I work has tasked us with developing procedures for climbing poles using fall protection. The goal is to provide 100% fall protection while asceding, working on and descending a pole while using two types of straps. What I am asking here is for those of you who work for a utility, what are your procedures for manuevering past obstacles? Is there a set distance that you can climb using just one strap, such as climbing between the secondary conductors and a transformer?

How the apprentices are taught now is to climb to the first obstruction using their pole choker or cynch-lok then throw the rope lanyard over the obstruction, unhook their first strap, step up and reconnect. Rinse and repeat. The questions start when there is only a couple feet between obstructions. Can they just use the rope lanyard and figure the secondary rack or spool will catch them?

Also, when belted over an obstruction, do you specify how it is attached the pole? An example would be #6 copper tied to a spool which is bolted to the pole. A lineman cuts out and his belt catches him after a 4 foot drop. The bolt would probably hold but would the wire? That's the kind of stuff we're coming up with. There isn't going to be a one size fits all solution or procedure, just looking for some ideas.

Thanks.

[T-Man]

I fell off a pole once but never hit the ground. We had some telegraph wire below us, and at lunch we came down. I came down last. I unbelted and took a few steps down thru some buck arms. I lost my grip and my hook cut out all at once. I knew I was done for and I'd land in a pile of snow at the base. Suddenly I was just hanging there away from the pole bobbing up and down gently. I grabbed for the pole and belted back in. The snap on my rubber glove bag clipped on to one telegraph wire and that saved my fall. Tele wire. Was 8 copper or smaller.

Our guys using the squeeze and lanyard had to keep the distance to whatever would stop your fall to a short distance. I don't remember that distance but it may have been 3 feet or less.

[reppy007]

We had that guy I talked about before,he belted off @ the system neutral....but wasnt looking at his d-ring....missing it with his safety....leaned back into his belt and falling about 21 or 22 feet...landing on his back...he was fresh out of apprentice school,must of been making up the bond to the system neurtral....the guy weighed a good 275 lbs...taken to the hospital and was back at work that afternoon...he wasnt hurt, only his pride....I never relied on the sound of a safety snapping to the d-ring.Ive always tried to look before leaning back.Maybe it was because of his accident.

[Hatteras]

Thanks guys. It's amazing what can happen. A Bell wire stopped your fall. Friggin amazing.

I cut out many times when I was climbing and back then but only hit the ground once, there were no anti-gravity belts. Luckily for me I was only 15 feet up and it seemed like the pole just had enough and threw me off. Landed on my glove bag. Saw my crew laughing (must have been a joke they were laughing at) and I went back up, no worse for the experience.

"The times they are a changin" and whatever our opinions on these types of belts are, they're not going away and the industry is going towards them in advance of a regulation that mandates it. We need to either get on the bandwagon and stop fighting the belts or start looking for other ways to earn a living. In fact, somebody is making a fortune with these things. There is always a better mousetrapto be invented.

I was reading some other posts on other threads on this topic. Some very strong opinions. But to say that we aren't a "real lineman" because of this or that is really just BS. Would you really want to work with someone who ignored the rules?

Some of us have only done utility work, or maintenace, or highline. Doesn't make us any less of a lineman, just a lineman with different experiences.

[T-Man]

The wire that saved me was telegraph wire like the railroad uses. It had maybe 6-8 pins and wire on one crossarm. It wasn't attached to the pole we were working on and we had to climb past it to get to where we were working. I think it was an abandon telegraph line that wasn't wrecked out yet. I'm glad it wasn't gone yet that day.

[old lineman]

There are standards on how far a person can fall before the fall protection system being used has to stop the descent. I'm not sure what it is but it's somewhere around 18-24 inches.
All you have to think about is that as you fall you gain momentum. Momentum is energy that must be gotten rid of when you stop. A free falling object falls at 120 MPH or 32 feet per second.
The objective is to stop a fall before the dynamic force is too much. The shorter the better.
Our linemen in Canada use a retractable lanyard which when placed around the pole above an obstacle retracts into the holding canister leaving no slack. If the worker cuts out he falls until the stretch is taken out of the retractable lanyard. That's only inches, not feet.
The linemen are to climb to the object, pull out their retractable lanyard and encircle the pole above the object and snap it into the opposite DEE. Remove their fall protection pole strap and step up to put it back around the pole as before.
Once this is done the retractable lanyard is removed and allowed to retract back into the canister out of the way.
Using two pole straps is too cumbersome and encourages linemen to use it to climb with.
There is no fall protection in using just a pole strap.
The Old Lineman

[CPOPE]

So if this is the rule and I have to climb across 3 Telecom and 1 catv and then the secondary/streetlight before approaching the primary gain I, figure you are belting and unclipping 10 times.
The days when free climbing was allowed are gone but not forgotten.
Turn your back and men will free climb if only to foolishly test their brovado.
Rules like this protect the company and frustrate the worker.

There are standards on how far a person can fall before the fall protection system being used has to stop the descent. I'm not sure what it is but it's somewhere around 18-24 inches.
All you have to think about is that as you fall you gain momentum. Momentum is energy that must be gotten rid of when you stop. A free falling object falls at 120 MPH or 32 feet per second.
The objective is to stop a fall before the dynamic force is too much. The shorter the better.
Our linemen in Canada use a retractable lanyard which when placed around the pole above an obstacle retracts into the holding canister leaving no slack. If the worker cuts out he falls until the stretch is taken out of the retractable lanyard. That's only inches, not feet.
The linemen are to climb to the object, pull out their retractable lanyard and encircle the pole above the object and snap it into the opposite DEE. Remove their fall protection pole strap and step up to put it back around the pole as before.
Once this is done the retractable lanyard is removed and allowed to retract back into the canister out of the way.
Using two pole straps is too cumbersome and encourages linemen to use it to climb with.
There is no fall protection in using just a pole strap.
The Old Lineman

[Hatteras]

Thanks Old Lineman and CPOPE.

I agree the free fall distance needs to be kept to a minimum. I haven't found a specified distance besides the four feet when training and six feet before fall arrest has to kick in. And I though there was a two foot fall limit when using a work positioning device such as a body belt. We don't want to be in a position where we are guessing at a distance and not being able to explain why that particular number was chosen. Again, trying to develop something that works in the "real world".

Yes, it can be frustrating but this fall protection isn't going away. Before long there will probably be Federal regulations requiring fall protection. However, the same issues will remain; rescue, fatigue caused by belting and unbelting numereous times, etc. I would like to see the lineman have options when faced with a given scenario. Maybe sometimes it would be better to remove an attachment that is lagged to the pole when climbing and working above. But what about stepped poles?

The best thing to do is to adapt now so when it does happen, we have some workable procedures in place.

Thanks.

[Old Line Dog]

So if this is the rule and I have to climb across 3 Telecom and 1 catv and then the secondary/streetlight before approaching the primary gain I, figure you are belting and unclipping 10 times.
The days when free climbing was allowed are gone but not forgotten.
Turn your back and men will free climb if only to foolishly test their brovado.
Rules like this protect the company and frustrate the worker.

It really don't "frustrate" the worker Mr. Cope. The NEW Lineworkers, are brought up with these New Rules. It "frustrates" the Older workers that are still in our once Great Trade......

Lineworkers Need to UNDERSTAND this, and just simply FOLLOW the new Rules.

The "Old" Linework is gone. There is NO Point in going against the New rules of the Line trade. It's just the way it is. "Safer".

[old lineman]

Belting and unbelting is our lot in life since the new regs. came in over 30 years ago. Normally Canada follows the US by sometimes 5-10 years. It seems that we have been a leader in this area.
Some think that's bad and some don't.
It really doesn't matter where you are when you fall the results can be devastating.
We have a clause in our regs. that says, " employers shall take every reasonable precaution to protect a worker from an accident".
That doesn't mean 1/2 the time or even once in a blue moon, it means EVERY time.
Should a worker be injured not following the regs. the immediate supervisor can be charged and management all the way to the CEO can be charged also.
With teeth like that a supervisor would be stupid to allow a subordinate to mess up.
The Old Lineman