Access Lifting Pulling & Safety

Access / Safe Maintenance at Height Temporary Suspended Access & Lifting

This presentation has been compiled by ALPS to demonstrate suspended access solutions for Building, Bridges & Other Structures.

Overview

Using standard or custom Engineered Suspended Access & Lifting Systems - installed & managed by specialist Rope Access operatives many otherwise difficult construction and maintenance challenges

can be Safely & Efficiently overcome.

During the design & implementation procedures Safety is Paramount and it is imperative that all applications are designed with Safety being

the primary factor.

Tower Access

Bridge Access

Facade Access

Inclined Access

Special Access

Suspended Access, Lifting, Pulling, Safety “Suspended Access” coverers all forms of access where the operatives

are suspended from above rather than supported from the ground up in order to gain access for the work in hand.

Permanent & temporary suspend solutions options and, due to the different types of operatives, require a different approach in terms equipment and its use.

“Industrial Rope Access”: Rope Access is a form of “Work Positioning” derived in the 90’s from sports climbing & caving….it is not a new form of access and was used during the construction of the Hover Dam where they were called “high-scalers” : Rope Access offer a Safe & efficient solution for many otherwise difficult & costly problems.

“Temporary Suspended Platforms” TSP’s can be supported from rope climbing hoists and used to raise, lower and support operatives, equipment and materials. Suspended platforms can be as small as 1M x 600mm and large suspended platforms of 200sq meters can be installed.

Inclined working platforms can also be classed as suspended.

Suspended Platforms: Engineered Platforms: Underdeck Platforms: Rope Access: Bridge Access

The Suspended Access Platform Principles

“Work at Height Regulations”

Typically a “Suspended Platform” is assembled at ground or low level & quickly raised

into place by a small team of specialists, this greatly reducing risks associated with

working at height and greatly reducing the volume of components handled at height, as

normally associated with erecting, moving & finally stripping a scaffolding structure.

“Rope Access” almost eliminates the need to install mechanical of fixed access

equipment and for certain applications makes this a very safe & effective form of access.

Emergency Repairs

Here we seem to have a broken pain of glass in a first floor window directly above the main entrance of a building.

As the window is now unstable the obvious risk is that of more falling glass and therefore an emergency repair is vital.

The area below should be cordoned of immediately to avoided risks to those below and a rapid solution must be implemented if the doorway is to be re-opened.

Possible Solution

Once the area below is cordoned off a team of two Rope Access optative's can access the roof and establish a safe place of work using there Rope Access equipment and rigging techniques.

If no suitable anchor locations are available they can install a portable weight anchor. (top right)

The operatives can abseil down the façade to the broken window.

They can use an adhesive film to keep remaining broken shards together.

The broken window can then be removed and placed into a “pod bag”, this attached to the operative. Whilst in the area all windows and ledges should be checked.

A temporary lightweight fix can be installed until the new glass is acquired.

It would be recommend to the client to install a safety film to all glass in similar areas

This operation would take approximately 4 hours with only minimum disruption.

Protective adhesive Film

Portable weight anchor

Rope Access Operative changing glass

BS-7985

Ceiling Collapse

Here we see a collapsed ceiling above a flight of stairs.

Electric lights are suspended form the ceiling and obvious “live”

Remaining areas of the ceiling look and must be assumed to be unstable.

Unstill the ceiling is made safe no one should work below it.

Possible Solutions

When the area below is deemed to be to dangerous to work then access from the ground up may not be the safest solution.

To firstly make the area safe it may be possible in this scenario to work from above.

The danger zone must obviously be cordoned off & all power isolated.

Rope Access workers could rig safety ropes at the floor level above

Floor boards could then be removed to gain access to the failing roof.

Small holes could be opened up and 11mm dynamic ropes could be lowered.

A fall protection safety net overlaid with debris netting is hauled up under the roof & made secure.

Once the nets are in place the roof could be safely removed from above making it safe below.

Alloy towers could be then used or, if the stairway is required to be kept open as a fire escape route etc a suspended working platform can be rigged & raised up under the roof.

Suspended working platforms assembled at ground level & raised into position: Safety Nets installed by Rope Access

Cupola Furnace Access System

Application.

The 25M deep x 1.3m dia’ vertical furnace needs accessing each week in

order to remove the build up of clinker from the walls;

It also needs to be re-line at intervals.

Existing method & risks.

Historically scaffolding was used and built by one man from the

base up.

This meant working in the furnace with the ever present

risk of falling clinker.

After a number of incidents the H&S E requested a safer option

be implemented.

Solution.

To work from the top down.

A custom access cage, raised and lowered by a

man-riding hoisting system ensured quick & safe access

from above.

With minimum effort and maximum safety the furnace could be accessed from the

top down

Historically the 1.3M dia’ shaft had been scaffolded from the access hatch below up some 25M to the top of the furnace.

The 1M dia’circular steel access cage is suspended from the powered trolley assembly via a double Blocstop sheave block; this ensures either one of the two falls of rope would protect the cage in the unlikely event of a rope failure or runaway situation.

Check-slings were fitted to the lower sheave block for additional protection, i.e. at least two points of attachment.

A remote control override pendant, no power lowering feature and a facility to manually raise the cage should both a mechanical and electrical failure occur all formed part of the design.

The cage capacity was 200Kg with a vertically speed of 4M/min’

Cupola Furnace Access System

Re Furb’ / Re Roof

When a new roof on a new structure or roof refurb’ or

new roof on an existing structure is required the risks

associated with removing the old roof & installing the

new roof includes workers falling through or down the

the old or new roof; there is also a risk of roofing

tools, equipment and materials falling creating a high

risk to those below.

Possible Solution

A specialist rope access team can install passive fall protection

nets beneath the roof, aiding technique's are used to work

through the steelwork. Once the nest are in place a bespoke

temporary roofing installation platform can be installed,

as shown above the solution may also consider materials

handling as well as access.

Once safe roof access & material handling is established it is

wise to consider a future facility to ensure on-going safety for

all future maintenance workers, this is normally the case with

new buildings but sometimes overlooked when re-roofing

existing buildings.

Roof Access Projects

Inclined Roof Access Platform

Suspended Platform in Atrium Roof Access

Roof Construction Platform & Crash Deck

Inc’ feeder platform

Roof Construction Platform over false roof

The following slides show a selection of

Suspended Access & Lifting Solutions.

Temporary Suspended Access

A range of Temporary Suspended Access Platforms (TSP’s) are available; these can be

Manual or Powered by traction hoists these in turn protected by secondary safety devises.

Standard platforms from 1M up to 18M are available to assist with lighter duty applications and special platforms are available for heavier duty applications.

When access to the underdeck of a bridge is required Suspended Access is an option that should be studied.

In the example's above the platforms are assembled off-site or on the ground below. A small specialist rope access team raises them up to the bridge.

As work progresses they are moved without the need to strip and erect.

Bridge Access Applications (Below deck)

Industrial Rope Access

ALPS Rope Access Operatives are able to access areas that would otherwise by

difficult and expensive.

Working to British Standard 7985 all operatives are independently trained and

assessed.

Examples of Engineered Suspended Access Applications

Off Shore Accommodation Rig is equipped for painting Shell Global: Live flair Stack strengthening rom a TSP.

Alcan Bauxite Shed; 18M roof access platform High Rise in Manchester: “Horseshoe platform on gable end

An engineered suspended

platform & trolley system ensures the users with there tools and equipment are

transported to the hi-level work locations and

remain attached and safe at all

times.

Main Cable Access System / Severn Bridge.

The options for working on the main cable of a

large suspension bridge are limited. At lower levels a

MEWP can be used, however the deck is constantly moving and the

carriageway below must be closed.

Bridge Access Platform

Scaffolding was originally considered to enable prep’ and

paint works to the upper walkways. This required many tons of

scaffolding to be handled at high level and many man-hours of

working in-the-air during erection and removal.

Major disruption to the bridge below was unavoidable.

A modular / mobile suspended bridge access platform was delivered to the

bridge partially built. Rigging was completed and checked and the platform raised from the lorry into

place in a matter of a few hours. The platform could be moved across the bridge with no need to strip and erect.

Bridge Access Platforms

In order to carry out a visual & tactile bridge inspection the options

included MEWP & Rope Access.

Scaffolding was not considered for this application:

Although both safe forms of access MEWP required many carriageway

closures and Rope Access would not provide access for the engineers.

A modular bridge access platform was constructed on the quay side and transported to the bridge by boat.

The traveling suspenders kept the footpath and carriage was open with only minimum

disruption to the bridge.

The platform was quickly raised into place with all equipment necessary on-board.

High factors of safety / man-riding hoists & back up devises ensured maximum safety

Large Temporary Suspended Platforms

When an escape walkway required installing under a large bridge all forms

of access were studied.

Scaffolding was the first option, this requiring many tons of scaffolding with

many installation hours in-the-air.

MEWP working near the steep muddy bank were discounted.

Rope Access alone was not a option.

Custom assembled Suspend Access Platform could be assembled on the ground and quickly raised up into place by a small specialist team, this eliminating many man-

hours of working at height during access installation and also providing access where

required-when required.

Lifting systems and escape access platforms were included in the solution.

.

Examples of Suspend Access Platforms

Strengthening works to the Tay rail bridge required access to all 72 bays

Scaffolding was the initial option;

The contractor evaluated custom suspended platforms with a scaffolding

Both would do the job but with a small component count assembled and installed by small team of specialists platforms were considered both safer and more effective

for this project.

The first bays were scaffolded taking approximately 10 scaffolders 10 days

to install handling many tons of components.

The platforms, once assembled, took a team of 5 circa 1 shift to install

minimising risks of working in-the-air.

Platforms had hoists, generator & compressor on-board ensuring a fit-

for-purpose work station.

Building Access

When many meters of alloy monorail required replacing on

a large hospital in the midlands the problem was

how to safely change the rails that were originally installed from a façade scaffolding.

Used to snag the new façade; when used as construction

equipment as opposed a BMU the rail suffered damaged.

(Building Maintenance Unit)

Access Installing Access !

100’s tons of scaffolding would be a high risk operation & extremely disruptive for the

open hospital:

The works was carried out using 2 TSP’s operated by

Rope Access optative's

End stops, safety blocks, back up Blocstops, & Rope Access methods ensure the platform & operator remained attached to the structure at all times.

Temporary Suspend Access Platforms

In order to carry out a full building façade refurb’ the only options available to the main contractor were a full façade scaffolding or suspended access platforms.

The project was in the centre of Birmingham and the building in use.

Due to the low component count and small team of installers it was decided that TSP would prove both the safest and most cost effective solution.

By plotting platform locations carefully each platform is configured to fit precisely.

Hoist ropes have high factors of safety and are backed up.

Platform users are attached to the platform at all times

Roof beam calculations ensure high coefficient of safety at roof level.

Installers are all Rope Access trained.

A92 North Water Bridge

The problem was how to access the river arches to carry out stone repairs to the sides

and under arch locations.

All land spans had been scaffolded but this proved

difficult over the water.

By studying the stone masons requirements a simple traversing

access system was installed over a weekend.

The platform travelled horizontally & vertically taking the stone masons,

stone and equipment to the required locations with minimum effort.

Users remained attached to the platform & Hoists, back-up devises &

double trolleys ensured maximum safety.

Bearing Access Platform

When the bearings on the Orwell Bridge

required replacing a vertically powered

heavy duty access platform was

originally studied and chosen.

The heavy bearings, operatives &

equipment could be safely raised &

lowered to the working location.

The access & lifting system was

designed with all contractors

requirements in mind and not as just

“something to stand on”

It took a team of 5 aprox’ I week to install

with most of the work at ground level.

In 2011 a further bearing required replacing;

this time the contractor chose scaffolding as

this appeared “on-paper” the cheapest option.

Many 100’s of tons of scaffolding and a large

gang were required; the scaffolding took

many more weeks than envisaged to install &

remove & required modifications to the

design to accept the heavy loads craned to

the top.

The Suspended access option would not

only have proved safer but in this instance

cheaper & quicker.

Conclusion

In most cases a Suspended Access solution proves not only the safest option but also the most efficient.

Using Engineered Suspended Access Buildings, bridges & other structures can be Safely & Efficiently accessed for many otherwise difficult and

sometimes dangerous construction & maintenance tasks.

Tel:- 00 44 1246 413111

Mob: 07711 410621 (Dave)