What comes after high rope training?

Mention working with high ropes and many people think first of the great Charles Blondin who crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope in 1859. He continued with several increasingly strange crossings, including cooking an omelette halfway. Blondin originally trained as an acrobat and relied on her natural sense of balance to overcome it.

Today, high rope work has evolved to mean working at height above and around any of the tall structures that are part of our modern world. These include skyscrapers, wind turbines, oil platforms, bridges, and communication towers. Trained high rope technicians worldwide are urged to complete a variety of projects. These could be as simple as cleaning windows in a tall building, or as complex as maintaining and repairing a communications suite. In short, where there is a tall structure, high-rise technicians are needed.

High rope work is not limited to man-made structures only. It is increasingly used to help solve geotechnical problems. With time comes movement, of cliffs, mountains and ravines. The action of the wind and the tide can erode the cliffs until they fall into the sea. Heat, drought, excessive rainfall, and ice play a major role in changing the stability of mountain slopes until rocks fall and landslides become inevitable. While authorities sometimes give in to nature, they must also consider security. This leads to the need for projects to shore up and stabilize potentially dangerous land areas.

All of these projects require highly trained rope access technicians. While various technicians will bring skills to their training, such as mechanical, electrical, or electronic, others will simply take their heads to the heights and enthusiasm for a rewarding trade. While there are several different ratings available, in this article we will focus on the ratings offered through IRATA.

The Industrial Rope Access Industrial Association (IRATA) is a worldwide organization for companies working in the rope access industry. Since its formation in 1987, IRATA has worked to ensure the safety of its members. It has been so successful in this that the accident rate for IRATA members is much lower than for comparable industries.

The key ethos of IRATA cable access training is teamwork and security. It is a common misconception in management that putting some people together and giving them a common task or goal creates a team. It does not. True teamwork means recognizing your own and others' strengths and weaknesses and using them for the good of the whole. Real teamwork means taking care of each other and being there with support almost before you ask. True teamwork means being able to trust others to do what is expected of them so that you can carry out your role with a sense of security. For High ropes Kenya  technicians, teamwork = safety = life. Teamwork training is an important aspect of all courses.

The key planks of IRATA rope access training are safety and teamwork. Each IRATA job must have a minimum team of two. Each worker is tied by two separate ropes attached to different anchors. Tools and equipment are tied separately or tied to the worker. This insistence on a separate anchor and a second-line anchor forms the basis of IRATA security.

IRATA training consists of a minimum course of five days followed by written and practical exams. All exams are assessed separately by a qualified external consultant. Passing the first exam will mean the IRATA level 1 technician qualification. These workers will be able to perform a variety of tasks under the supervision of an IRATA Level 3 technician and will be responsible for their own team.

To advance to an IRATA Level 2 Technician, you must first work for a minimum of one year and 1,000 hours as a Level 1 Technician. You must then complete a minimum five-day course and pass the written and practical exam at the end. You will then be able to perform tasks such as cable access rigging and rescues, including transportation, under the supervision of a level 3 technician.

IRATA Level 3 Technicians must have worked for a minimum of one year and 1,000 hours at Level 2. In addition to completing an additional course and exam, they must also have first aid qualifications and have been nominated by a member company or advisor. from IRATA.