Vertical Access founder Kent Diebolt was elected to the Association for Preservation Technology Northeast Chapter (APTNE) Board of Directors at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the chapter. Kent has had a long involvement with the Association for Preservation Technology International (APTI), serving as a Director, Vice President and then President of the APTI board between the years 1998 and 2005. During that time he helped organize conferences and symposia related to historic roofing, Guastavino structures and monitoring of historic buildings. He also co-chaired the APTI committee for the 2007 conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Serving on the APTNE board, Kent hopes to contribute to program planning and outreach to students and emerging professionals. He joins a dedicated group of board members representing preservation architecture, engineering, conservation, planning, materials and contracting.
Category: Conferences
2011 SPRAT Conference
by Mike Gilbert
The Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT) is an organization comprised of individuals, companies, and agencies that have a stake in the safe development of rope access standards and practices. Although SPRAT is based in the United States, its scope is international. Currently, SPRAT members hail from the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. The membership includes individual practitioners, companies that provide rope access services, training or equipment, and government agencies.
SPRAT supports rope access practitioners with certification programs, regulatory support, networking, and opportunities to participate in developing industry-consensus standards.
This year’s SPRAT Conference was held the second week of January in Vancouver, British Columbia. The annual conference is a two-day affair.
The first day is given over to SPRAT business, with committee meetings and reports. I participated in the Certification Requirements Document Committee, and the Safe Practices Document Committee meetings.
I took on the task of performing an editorial review of the two documents. I will be looking mostly for inconsistencies in nomenclature, but I’ll also keep an eye out for other editorial or substantive violations of parallel construction. The Safe Practices document informs the Certification document, and the Certification document implements the Safe Practices, so the two need to stand in complete agreement. Since they are overseen by separate committees, and adopted in separate ballot initiatives, they do not always reflect each other as accurately as we would wish.
The second day of the conference consists primarily of technical presentations by SPRAT members. Nine presentations covered a wide range of topics, ranging from a review of OSHA’s proposed changes to the regulations governing fall protection in general industry, to a humorous look at the characteristics desirable in the “perfect rope access technician”. There were two project case studies, a presentation on leadership in management, three presentations focused on rope access equipment, and an evaluation of rope access in the U.S. regulatory framework. Continue reading 2011 SPRAT Conference →
VA Presents at APTI Conference in CO
The Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) held its 2010 annual conference in Denver, CO October 6-9. Vertical Access partner Evan Kopelson presented a paper entitled “Let’s call a spall a spall: An examination of condition glossaries“.
NCSEA Annual Conference 2010
Annual conference of the National Council of Structural Engineers Association (NCSEA) – September 30 to October 2 in Jersey City, NJ. The program included papers on a variety of topics, ranging from standards and codes to research and case studies. Vertical Access partner Kelly Streeter, PE attended.
Dream Jobs in the World Outside
It’s hard to beat playing Spider-Man in New York City, rappelling down the stainless-steel spire of the Chrysler Building, carrying a water hose to test for leaks, or tiptoeing around the towers of St. Patrick’s Cathedral to check their condition. To carry out surveys, Streeter and fellow technicians—among them a historic preservationist and a masonry expert—construct a fail-safe system of ropes that allow them to clip in, climb up, and get close to beautiful landmarks. Working hands-free, they investigate and meticulously map a building’s condition, entering data into a handheld computer while hovering hundreds of feet above the ground. “We get to see these amazing parts of buildings that no one else sees up close,” Streeter says.