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Highlights from 2012 SPRAT Annual Conference in Golden, CO

Last modified: January 17, 2012

Mike Gilbert and Keith Luscinski traveled to Golden, Colorado this month to attend the 2012 conference for the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT). 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 USA, Canada, Mexico, South America, and Europe. The membership includes individual practitioners, companies that provide rope access services, training or equipment, and government agencies.

Mike Gilbert, Level 3 SPRAT certified. Location: Jefferson Market Library, New York City. Photo by Ken Kobland.

SPRAT supports rope access practitioners with certification programs, regulatory support, networking, and opportunities to participate in developing industry-consensus standards. The key elements of the conference took place on Thursday and Friday, January 12 and 13.

Keith Luscinski, Level 3 SPRAT Certified. Location: Arthur Ravenel Bridge, Charleston, SC. Photo by Vertical Access.

On Thursday afternoon, a meeting was held by the Standards Committee, which comprises all SPRAT members. The Standards Committee oversees the key subcommittees that maintain and promulgate the current SPRAT standards and formulate new standards.  SPRAT has recently been seeing growth in new countries and industries, which was certainly evidenced by the committee’s attendance.  Members were present from the USA, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, and Turkey, as well as from the window cleaning, chimney repair and telecommunication sectors.  Vertical Access, however, was one of only a few firms representing the East Coast.

An interesting new development by the Standards Committee is the introduction of a rope access company audit program.  This effort is the purview of the Company Audit Subcommittee. Keith attended the subcommittee meeting Thursday afternoon.

Intended to be a voluntary process, the audit would add distinction to businesses that are fully SPRAT compliant.  Currently, SPRAT certifies individual technicians but has no process for evaluations at the employer level.  This year will likely see a handful of trial runs of the audit program, with a full implementation of the program within the next few years. Vertical Access is interested in this program, and will likely participate in the “beta testing”.

Friday was primarily given over to presentations by the SPRAT membership and interested outside parties and without a doubt, the hottest topic at the conference was Petzl’s presentation of its recent statement regarding the Shunt backup device. Used by the majority of industrial rope access technicians in the United States, the Shunt has been an inexpensive, lightweight and user-friendly fall-protection/backup device for over fifteen years.

Petzl’s recent statement addresses the hazard of an uncontrolled descent should the user either fail to let go of the Shunt or grab the Shunt in the event of a fall or working line failure.  While this hazard has been acknowledged by Petzl and rope access practitioners for years, recent testing suggested the previous policy of allowing the Shunt to be used by trained technicians does not adequately mitigate the hazard.

The Petzl Shunt

The conclusion is that in spite of our best intentions, we cannot train panic. As part of the statement, Petzl advises against the use of the device for industrial rope access applications.  Many industrial rope access companies are now searching for other backup devices that are “panic proof,” meaning that they will arrest a fall even if grabbed by the user.

While every occupation has its hazards, historical data shows an exceedingly low rate of major injuries to industrial rope access technicians.  See statistics gathered by the Industrial Rope Access Trade Association.

SPRAT is reviewing its evaluation criteria in light of the previously ubiquitous use of the Shunt device. Vertical Access will begin using an alternative device, while we all await the development of the ideal backup device. Attention all inventors…..

Webinar : New! Web-based Conditions Data Project Reports with TPAS

Last modified: January 6, 2012

Date: January 23, 2012
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 EST

Join us for a demonstration of the new web-based reporting feature of TPAS – the tablet PC annotation system that let you enter data directly in AutoCAD drawings in the field.

Web-based TPAS reports allow you to interactively search, view and format your field-captured data and photographs within an internet browser. You will be able to create, edit and print reports from the browser without opening AutoCAD. The new TPAS report portal will summarize and aggregate data to allow all project stake holders to communicate more efficiently about site observations. Once the data is brought into the portal you can create printable web and pdf reports to easily share information with others. Ultimately, this will reduce the time and resources your project team spends on reporting tasks for complex, data-driven projects.

Applications are as limitless as the reporting needs for your architecture, engineering or construction project, ranging from ASI and RFI reports to memos documenting hazardous condition or high priority items.

Register for our free webinar to see how TPAS can work for you with this live demo and Q+A forum.

After registering you will receive a confirmation email with information about how to login to the webinar. Hope you are able to make it!

Read more about TPAS

ANSI Z359 November 2011 meeting

Last modified: November 17, 2011

Eighty fall protection professionals representing the fall protection industry throughout the US and Canada gathered in Boulder, Colorado over three days in November to continue moving forward the Z359 fall protection code from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Kelly Streeter travels out to this meeting twice a year to take part in this consensus standard writing process. Vertical Access originally became involved in order to be an active subcommittee member of the Z359.8 group: Safety Requirements for Suspended Rope Systems.  Chaired by Loui McCurley, representing the Society of Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT), the document is nearly ready to go to the full committee for ballot.

For the past year, Kelly has been the chairperson along with co-chair Steve Hudson, from PMI, of the Z359.9 subcommittee which is tasked with creating the standard for Personal Equipment for Protection Against Falls – Descending Devices. This standard reaches far beyond the world of industrial rope access as we know it at Vertical Access and includes six different types of descenders including devices that are intended solely for rescue purposes. The benefit of these meetings is not only to work on the Fall Protection Code, but also to connect with fall protection professionals outside of the Industrial Rope Access industry.

Vertical Access Documents Toronto’s Heritage

Last modified: October 11, 2011

In the heart of the Toronto financial district is 1 King Street West, a hotel and residential tower that exemplifies both Toronto’s architectural heritage as well as the city’s more recent building boom.  The current building on the eastern portion of the site was built in 1914 as the headquarters of The Dominion Bank.  The 14-story masonry building has a granite base and terra cotta at the upper floors, with neo-classical ornament fitting for a bank building of the period.  In 2005, a 51-story residential tower was appended to the historic building, making it one of the tallest residential buildings in Toronto.

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Continue reading Vertical Access Documents Toronto’s Heritage →

RESTORE offers 2011-2012 Masonry Conservation Course

Last modified: October 10, 2011

Here’s some information that we’d like to pass along from a colleague in our community of conservators, architects, and engineers …

Registration is now open for Masonry Conservation 2011-2012, a two-semester program of classes, labs, and field workshops designed to equip participants with the knowledge and skills needed to handle complex preservation and maintenance issues encountered in the field.  Classes start NOVEMBER 15, 2011.

This is the 35th year that RESTORE  has been offering training in the technology of architectural conservation with their team of nationally and internationally renowned faculty.   Tuesday evening classes are held in New York City and are approved by the Professional Development Committee of the AIA. Graduates will receive 50 AIA continuing education learning units, 14 of which qualify for AIA Health, Safety, Welfare credit. Participants include a diverse cross-section of building design professionals, craftworkers, contractors, cultural resource and facilities managers, architectural conservators and preservationists.


Webinar October 4: On-Site Digital Information Capture into AutoCad

Last modified: September 26, 2011

The efficient collection of conditions data on-site is critical during the early stages of a project. Decisions made about treatments are made based on the these initial evaluations and observations and they must be reliable and in a compatible format that is usable by the entire team of design professionals and project stakeholders.

Vertical Access has developed a sophisticated method of collecting this data called TPAS (Tablet PC Annotation System). TPAS uses AutoCAD functions and formats you probably already know. It’s loaded into a ruggedized tablet PC linked to a digital camera along with project drawings. TPAS lets you experience total digital inter-connectivity on site by entering graphical and numerical data, photographs and notes directly into your existing files.

TPAS enables you to…

* Use standard and customizable block libraries and attributes to create customized documentation of conditions

* Gain maximum insight into conditions on-site, digitally

* Differentiate your service

* Establish or maintain client relationships by providing higher quality, value-added reports

Register for our free webinar to see how TPAS can work for you with this live demo and Q+A forum. After registering you will receive a confirmation email with information about how to login to the webinar. Hope you are able to make it!

DATE: Tuesday, October 4, 2011

TIME: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT

The Occoquan Dam

Last modified: August 30, 2011

VA was retained by Olson Engineering to assist with non-destructive testing (NDT) at the Occoquan Dam in Fairfax County, Virginia.  The purpose of the project was to perform an investigation of the dam’s North abutment (side spillway) using Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) to determine the rebar size and spacing in this portion of the dam.

[slideshow]The team accessed the Dam by pontoon boat, reaching the upstream shell of the dam, where we tied off the boat and staged equipment.  Keith and Kevin proceeded to install several temporary anchors into the vertical surfaces of the north abutment so that we could descend safely to the various work areas on the spillway.

We were eating our lunches on the first day of work when the boat began to shake and rattle and bubbles came up from the bottom of the water.  We all looked around trying to figure out who was jumping up and down on the boat.  It took about a minute for us to get the report from Fairfax Water that the shaking had been an earthquake.  Those standing on the dam didn’t feel a thing, continuing cell phone conversations like nothing had happened while the rest of us looked around, confused.

After the earthquake commotion died down, we continued to guide the GPR antenna down the dam on a 2.5′ grid, carefully guiding the equipment on the slippery sloped concrete surface.  The antenna was connected to a data acquisition computer which was controlled at a flat area of the dam by Larry Olson and Aaron Homer from Olson Engineering.