Consider your employer’s rope access program as a map of the United States. Geographically, our country is large with lots of cities, towns, and villages. Suppose I want to travel from New Orleans to Carson City because I was told the Bucket of Blood Saloon has the best sarsparillas in the world. The map will orient me and give me a very good idea of the route I should take. Now, the map becomes a bit useless when I get to Carson City. I’ll have to get another map that shows the details of the city if I’m to find the Bucket O’ Blood Saloon.
Just like the first map, your program will provide general direction about your employer’s rope access operations. It outlines your employer’s expectations regarding the work they intend to do on ropes, the training requirements for their technicians, and the techniques and equipment to be used. The second map is like having separate procedures you can use to provide the details of the work you’ll be doing.
There are a bunch of details I’m leaving out, but I think you get the picture.
The program addresses the big picture stuff. Your access work plan will address your specific job, or combination of jobs you are doing. Just like my example of the two maps, you need more detail once you get to the worksite. The access work plan will specifically focus on the plan of protecting you while you conduct your job. It may or may not include other procedures as well, such as NDT, blasting and painting or welding. Usually, it will reference these procedures as necessary and assume you will review them as part of the pre job briefing and apply the procedure correctly in the field. Taken as a whole, following your employer’s plan will allow you to return home to your loved ones.
Nope. One of the great things about having a business is you get to do anything you want. Well, not everything, but you get to set the rules. Every employer will have their own opinion of what should be a rule at the worksite. Their opinion is based fundamentally on the way they’ve chosen to operate their business and the level of risk they deem as acceptable.
OSHA has a hand in “helping” us set the rules. Their requirements are law and, therefore, any employer would be wise to ensure compliance to the Codes of Federal Regulation and the General Duty Clause. As an employer, we have the obligation to provide a worksite free from known hazards. We achieve this through the procedures and processes we write to help inform team members of methods to keep them safe. Of course, not all hazards can be eliminated, so we also rely in the training we provide to our teams.
Yep, kinda. Each employee has the obligation to work safely at the worksite and to diligently identify hazards and mitigate them to an acceptable level of risk. But you also have the responsibility to look after your co-workers and follow your employer’s procedures. The rope access program will help point you in the right direction. If you discover something that isn’t offering the level of protection you feel you need, then you can exercise your stop work authority. Talk it over with the team and mitigate or eliminate the hazard. Almost as important is that you follow up with your manager to make him or her aware of the gap. Procedures are living documents meaning they change as needed to keep up with current regulations or requirements.
There is much more detail to this process and to our programs we use to ensure worksite safety. We can help with your procedures, programs, training and equipment needs. Just give us a call.
Thanks for tuning in. If you have thoughts about other topics you’d like to see discussed here, just drop me a line. You can always reach me via email.
Dwayne