rope access technician

Cultivating a Relationship with OSHA Part 3

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The value of a safety and health program.

This is the third in a series of blogs designed to help introduce your rope access company to OSHA and improve your company safety culture, or if there is none currently, then it’s time to get you started on the correct path to safety. (Check out the first and second blogs.)

It has always been my passion to promote safe work at height and help small business employers in the work at height industry understand the “cost” of safety.

The first question that I ask owners and management is, “How is your company’s safety and health program?” The responses that I receive range from the ignorant to the absurd.  I have heard everything from, “We’re good for now. We’re safe,” to “I’ve been in business for X years and haven’t had a problem.” The fact is most small business owners have been lucky by not having a serious injury, illness or worse a work-related death. For this reason, they don’t understand the importance of proper Safety and Health Management.

The fact is, safety and health programs add value and savings to a business by:

  • Reducing medical costs
  • Lowering insurance rates
  • Lowering EMR’s (Experience Modification Rate) the ability to secure more work
  • Increasing productivity
  • Increasing Morale
  • Reducing turnover

Employees and their families also benefit from Safety and Health because:

  • Their income is protected
  • Their lives are not hampered by an injury
  • Their stress level is not increased

Investing in a safety and health program now will set your company on the course to avoid possible losses in the future. The time, energy and minimal fiscal output to create a culture of safety in your company yields an obvious and extreme ROI.

THE BASIS OF A PLAN:  A FOUR POINT WORKPLACE PROGRAM

  1. Management Commitment and Employee Involvement. The owner, manager or management team leads the way, by setting policy, assigning and supporting responsibility, setting an example and involving employees.
  2. Worksite Analysis. The worksite is continually analyzed to identify all existing and potential hazards. This is where a mobile workforce such as a rope access company sets itself apart from a manufacturer. For example, a rope access company performing an inspection on the side of a building would analyze all hazards from the roof deck down to the ground.
  3. Hazard Prevention and Control. Methods to prevent or control existing or potential hazards are created, utilized and maintained.
  4. Training for Employees, Supervisors and Managers. Managers, supervisors and employees are trained to understand and deal with worksite hazards.

Regardless of business size, these four basic elements make up a Safety and Health Program.  The key to the success of a Safety and Health Management System is to make it part of your day to day operations so it becomes second nature.

Q & A’s for Small Business Employers

Q. What is a Job Hazard Analysis?

A. A preparation technique that focuses on job tasks as a way to identify and correct hazards.

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Cultivating a Relationship with OSHA

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misconceptions (3)

It is one of the questions that I get asked most often as a business owner: “How do I approach my state OSHA office?” Companies want to operate as safely as possible to avoid fines, while their local OSHA office many not even know what rope access is. The problem is wide spread, and it’s up to the company to take the first step to remedy the situation.

Many rope access employers and employees avoid the acronym OSHA at all costs, but it doesn’t have to be that way. By sharing my experience with OSHA, my hope is to change your misconceptions with this organization and help answer some of the questions you may have regarding your first steps towards introducing your rope access company to OSHA.

My journey with OSHA started out in an unorthodox manner, yet it ultimately changed my perception of safety and OSHA itself. My first official rope access project was a very challenging condominium complex where I encountered a disgruntled window cleaner whose services had just been replaced by my rope access company; this person threatened to report my company to OSHA for what he believed were willful safety violations. He regularly photographed and reported my work to the property manager and shouted that four letter word OSHA as if it were an obscenity.

I can tell you that it became my worst fear that I could potentially be facing a compliance officer based on this person calling OSHA. I certainly did not want anything to do with OSHA nor did I need a citation at that time. Thankfully, the hands of fate intervened and my destiny with OSHA became an invaluable learning experience. Thinking back, if I could meet that window cleaner today, I would shake his hand and thank him for all that he has done for me and my company.

It begins with your employees; building a small company and hiring employees changes the game significantly, since you now inherit the title of ‘Employer’. This title comes hand in hand with another: Employer Responsibilities. Under the General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are required to provide their employees with a place of employment that is “free from recognizable hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious harm to employees. 

In simpler terms, employers have a responsibility to provide a safe workplace. (The full list of key employer responsibilities can be found here: https://www.osha.gov/as/opa/worker/employer-responsibility.html.)

It’s key to understand the importance of safety and health management so that your rope access company is not on the wrong end of an OSHA inspection or worse, a work-related injury or fatality at your company.

So, what’s at stake if you are the employer?

In short: your company, your livelihood, or someone’s life. A work-related injury or fatality will put your company in the cross-hairs of OSHA and also Civil Litigation, at which point it is all but too late. By the time a trial comes around, a lawyer will have a carefully prepared case against you and your company. If this happened to you tomorrow, how prepared would you be?

No one will ever be prepared for a work-related fine, injury or fatality, but you can make sure you are arming your company against the occurrence of all three by being prepared, knowledgeable, above all, genuinely friendly with your local OSHA office.

Q & A’s for Small Business Employers

Q: Can an OSHA Compliance Officer (CSHO) show up unannounced at your site without an appointment for a surprise inspection? Do they need to call ahead, email or send notice of an inspection?

A: Notice of intended inspection shall not be given to an employer prior to the time of actual entry upon the workplace. Compliance Officers will present credentials, and shall be permitted to inspect places of employment, Question employees, and investigate conditions, practices or matter connection with employees.

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Top 5 Benefits of Working in Rope Access

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Top 5 benefits of working in rope access

  1. Physical Fitness: Due to how physically demanding the work is, rope access leaves technicians little option other than to be physically fit. In most cases, just performing the work itself goes a long way in helping to cultivate a higher level of physical fitness. Being a rope access technician is not dissimilar to working out for forty hours a week; the exercise is built into the job.
  2. Unbeatable Views: One of the awesome benefits of being hired to access an area no one else can get to is that you get to see what no one else gets to see. There are views technicians see that only a handful of people in the world have or will see, places they will access that they would never be able to access if they weren’t performing rope access. The underside of the Skywalk at the Grand Canyon, government buildings with top level security, rooftops on New York City skyscrapers, the space shuttle Atlantis: without rope access, we wouldn’t have seen any of them.
  3. Patience & Focus: Two traits that can easily make or break technicians, and those technicians also take home with them and see the benefits of in their personal lives. Patience and focus are paramount when performing rope access; ascending 200 feet, performing an edge start on a 50 story building, tying knots necessitate a serious level of patience and focus because it could be the difference between life and death. Learning to have both of these qualities while on line brings with it the benefit of these qualities in the technician’s daily life, lending to an often times calmer, thorough and more focused thought process.
  4. Coordination: We could have included this with number three, but it’s significant enough to warrant its own spot. There is a very real necessity for coordination in rope access; to put it simply, you can’t accomplish anything on ropes if you resemble a fish out of water. Technicians need to be coordinated enough to perform, hold and maintain multiple physical tasks simultaneously which is an incredibly useful trait to have carry over into one’s personal life.
  5. Career Path: Rope access holds the potential for countless career paths. There are countless windows of opportunity, whether a technician is interested in being an instructor, evaluator, supervisor, project manager, operations manager or even the director of a safety division, all are possibilities that are open to technicians in the rope access community. Many enter into rope access in the early stages of their career development, and with dedication and proper planning they can take their career within the industry in nearly any direction, up to and including retirement. Rope access appears on the surface to be a limited potential occupation for young climbers, when in reality it is the perfect way to begin laying the foundations of an enduring and self-sustaining career.
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Top 5 Misconceptions about Rope Access

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Top 5 misconceptions about rope access

  1. “Rope access is a trade.” Rope access is not, in itself, a trade. Rope access is the vehicle that gets a technician from point A to point B in order to perform a trade or skill. There’s a huge difference, and it is consistently and nearly universally overlooked. Becoming a level 1 rope tech isn’t going to get one anywhere other than to the physical spot on the tower/building/structure/rig where the actual work needs to be done. It should go without saying that the probability of someone hiring a rope tech for the sole purpose of ascending or descending a line only is pretty low. Be prepared to accept the fact that rope access needs to be paired with a skill or a trade.
  2. “Starting pay is $X per hour.” Rope access is like any other industry when it comes to pay; different companies have different budgets, pay scales and projects requiring technicians. An international or publicly traded company with large scale funding will absolutely pay a technician more per hour than a small business that works one project at a time. In addition to this, misconception number one comes into play again: if a technician has no trade to perform on rope, s/he’s going to make less per hour than a technician who is also a welder, NDE inspector, or even one who simply has experience performing a certain skill, like lighted sign maintenance.
  3. “Being certified is going to guarantee me work.” We see it constantly: technicians have a brand new certification, zero logged hours of rope access work, and are genuinely surprised by the fact that they do not have a large number of jobs to choose from. Rope access is an industry filled with highly competitive, hardworking technicians who are constantly trying to bulk up their resume in order to acquire better projects and positions. Being certified is not enough to get a technician work; rope access professionals must also be hungry for knowledge, experience and self-improvement because while the industry is small, there is still not a never-ending supply of work.
  4. “My employer is legally required to provide me with my rope access kit.” We are still fighting this battle, always. Many people in the industry think that OSHA’s requirements for supplying employees with PPE applies to rope access, which it does not. “On May 15, 2008, a new OSHA rule about employer payment for PPE went into effect. With few exceptions, OSHA now requires employers to pay for personal protective equipment used to comply with OSHA standards.” There are currently no OSHA standards in place for rope access, meaning this OSHA standard does not apply to rope access. Some employers with more financial backing may be able to provide kits to their employees, however it is not required by OSHA or any other governing party.
  5. “Rope access is an industry of men only.” Like many professions, it’s a common assumption and misconception that the work force is entirely comprised of men. Industries like construction, welding, engineering, nearly anything involving athletics, and even computer programming are all erroneously assumed to be men-only. Rope access is a field of work that clearly has more male technicians than women, but that should not deter any women from entering the field. One of the founding members of SPRAT (Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians) was Loui McCurley, who is a widely renowned industry leader, and who is currently the CEO of one of the most esteemed manufacturers of rope and equipment in the industry (PMI). Our academy has had incredibly successful female students, who have gone on to have rewarding careers in the industry, and that is not as uncommon in rope access as you might think.
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Top Five Most Overlooked Must Haves for Rope Access

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When performing rope access, there are few things more frustrating than positioning yourself to perform your work only to realize you forgot something and need to get off line. It’s rare you’ll ever forget anything in your rope access kit, but there are a few things that are necessary and easily forgotten if you aren’t prepared.

  1. Hydration & Snacks

Hydration seems like an obvious necessity on the job site, but we notice (especially in our desert environment) that it is often underestimated just how much water a person needs to stay hydrated. It’s safe to assume that if you’re performing hard labor or working in heat that you should be consuming at least sixteen ounces of water per hour.

We tend to work ten hour days, and we don’t like breaks.  Sometimes that means eating when you can grab a second. We keep protein bars on hand, and bananas to keep up our potassium. It’s important to eat nutritious, clean foods while working on ropes to keep yourself physically well and capable of performing your duties. As a rope access technician, your body is your most valuable and important tool on the job.

  1. The Unexpected

Performing rope access during the day? Bring head lamps. You brought your ASAP? Bring your Red, too. You already gave a copy of your JHA to the property manager? Bring another. Performing an inspection that requires photos? Bring an extra battery and memory card. Rope grabs. So many rope grabs. Think Boy Scout. Be so prepared that it’s comical, and make it a habit. You can never be too prepared, because the alternative is unacceptable (and unprofessional).

  1. A Knife

It may seem like a bad idea to have an item that’s sharp while performing rope access, but just like anything else; if you take the right precautions it’s perfectly safe. Keep it tethered, keep it facing away from your body and keep it away from your ropes. I cannot tell you how many times a knife has come in handy when I was performing work at height. There’s nothing more annoying that having to get off line to go track a knife down just so you can complete your work.

  1. Clothing & Steel toe shoes

You already know the clothing you should be wearing when working at height, and your necessary PPE. This isn’t about that. This is about working within the constraints of your required PPE to be as comfortable and efficient as possible while performing rope access. If my clothes don’t breathe, especially in 120 degree weather, I can’t perform the physical actions required of rope access. The game changer is going to be the first time you wear sweat-wicking/breathable and/or UV protecting clothes. They’ll change your entire outlook on work attire, and you’ll never go back. I got a pair of these pants a few months ago and wore them into the ground, and now I’ve stocked up and they’re all I wear. (Not an exaggeration, I wear them to every job site.)Wearing TrueWerk T2 pants for rope access work

My other must have, which is still pretty well debated among rope access technicians, is steel toed boots. I’ve spoken to many rope techs who say they don’t feel the need to wear them because they aren’t always performing rope access work on a construction site. Construction or not, they’re incredibly convenient and bring an extra level of safety to your PPE, while giving you the ability to hold yourself in place easily and without injury to your feet. Wearing steel toed shoes while performing rope access work gives me the ability to utilize a unique and effective tool every day with minimal effort.

  1. Gloves

Sometimes you’ll need different kinds of gloves, but my go-to are baseball gloves. They protect your hands, prevent sweat from interfering with your work, and are thin enough to be able to perform tasks requiring a more delicate touch. Obviously, rigging gloves are great for rigging and more general or hard labor, but thinner gloves give you the ability to keep a strong grip while also maintaining the ability to perform precision tasks.

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