THE RIGGING LOCKER

Slow Descent Device for a broke painter?

I work alone painting roofs, I have a retractable fall arrest cable attached to my Safety Harness.The arrest devise will stop me in the event of a fall before I go too far.
What concerns me is “god forbid” if I slip and fall,Unfortunately I will be stuck hanging in the air. Not good at all.

You will have two choices for self rescue: climb back up the cable, or somehow take the pressure off your harness so you can escape from the cable and then fashion a way to get down.

There are methods for climbing back up a rope (look up Jumars and prussic knots), but these will not be a good option for climbing back up a steel cable (I assume that is what your arrest cable is), and climbing back over the lip of the roof will be very difficult anyway, so descent is probably the best option. Descending will still be complex however; you will need to do the following steps:

To prepare beforehand, you will need to find a way to attach the rope to your cable – this could just be a large chain link attached to the cable with a u-clamp, for example. The attachment point will need to be as far up the cable as possible, but still within reach if you are hanging from the cable. I would recommend not leaving the rope permanently attached – it will get in your way, and could get damaged in the day to day doings of your job. So in addition to the attachment point, you will need to always carry the following equipment:
* a coil of nylon climbing rope (6mm is thick enough, since it only needs to hold body weight) It will need to be as long as your tallest building, plus 5′ or so for a knot. http://www.rei.com/product/716225/pmi-accessory-cord-6mm
* a figure 8 rappel device: http://www.rei.com/product/471098/black-diamond-super-8-belay-device
* a locking carabiner:http://www.rei.com/product/710216/black-diamond-positron-screwgate-carabiner
* about 12′ of nylon webbing you can tie into a sling (a loop – see below) http://www.rei.com/product/783605/1-military-spec-tubular-webbing

Then if you ever fall and find yourself hanging in space, you will need to do the following steps:

1) use a bowline knot to tie the rope to the attachment point you previously prepared on the cable.
2) attach the sling to the same attachment point.
3) put your foot in the sling and stand in it to take the weight off of the cable
4) while standing in that loop, attach yourself to the descent rope using the rappel device and carabiner, and pull up the slack until it is tight.
5) now that you are secured to the descent rope, gently weight the descent rope until you are hanging completely from it, disconnect yourself from the now slack cable, then use the rappelling device to lower yourself to the ground.

Obviously, this is not trivial, and you don’t want to screw it up. You should practice rappelling (plenty of instructions online) until you are completely comfortable doing it, then practice the other steps in a controlled but realistic environment just a few feet off the ground.

Another obvious step you can take is to keep your cell phone in a secure pocket, so you can call 911 if you fall.

SAFETY ROPE, MICK FLANNERY LIVE NEW

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