Towertalk
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [TowerTalk] Tower Incidents

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower Incidents
From: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2016 10:16:39 -0500
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Good stuff (see below) but I wonder if anyone of the "Free Climb" fraternity is ever convinced to use safety gear short of a personal near death experience since they know bad stuff ONLY happens to the other guy.

I remember when cars first started coming with seat belts and auto parts stores were selling after market belts to retrofit to older cars. Before it was a law with fines for disobeying many folks refused to buckle up. There were all sorts of specious excuses such as wanting to be thrown clear of the accident, not being trapped in a burning car with a buckle malfunction or drowning under water unable to release the belt and on and on and on all unsubstantiated by statistics.

There are multiple levels of learning ability which can be characterized as follows:

1. pees on the hot wire and does it again later not having learned from the first experience.

2.  pees on the hot wire and subsequently avoids that act.

3. Sees what happens when someone else pees on the hot wire and avoids that action/consequence without having to do it himself.

4. Reasons that peeing on the hot wire is likely a bad idea and avoids doing it.

I try to be a #4 as much as possible and try very very hard to avoid ever being a #1

Once upon a time when I didn't know any better while taking a sabbatical I climbed towers with a linesman belt with two steel lanyards, provided by my employer. Made it safe to use both hands for working on stuff but... if you fell it could break your back. Now equipped with a good fall arresting harness I try to not need it having three tilt over towers.

Patrick        NJ5G

On 6/21/2016 9:36 AM, Robert Morris wrote:
On Jun 21, 2016, at 12:06 AM, Wilson wrote:

I asked the other day, during the fall related messages, if anyone had, or knew 
of anyone who had, been saved by a fall protection system.
----------
My last employer gave a  tower climbing school and issued the latest full body 
harness gear.

Included were the two (one will always be attached to the tower) lanyards, plus 
spares.

These clipped to the D ring, in back, between the shoulder blades.

They were constructed to provide a "soft" fall. If they were "pulled" with more 
than a 100 pounds they unraveled at a moderate speed.

Old, fat guys (guess) moved a little faster, but still a soft stop.

On the last day, we got to "test" the lanyards.

The hard part is telling your little brain, O, yea, just step off the tower.

With the old linesmen belt, if you fall three or four feet, your back is broken 
or the belt has jammed your diaphragm, so you can't breathe.

The D ring in back, is the way a mother dog or cat carries her babies. Nape of 
the neck.

Hanging from the lanyard, you can just reach out and grab the tower, or you 
will live long enough get help.

I forget the brand, I'm sure there is more than one and things may have changed 
in eight years.

They said to replace the full harness every five years, either to sell a lot of 
gear or the stuff has a shelf life.






_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk

_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>