Rope Access Tips, Tricks & Chats

This week we take a look at IRATA. We all know IRATA and the level 1,2 and 3 system, but how is it set up and who is involved. We hope this answers a few questions you had, and maybe some you didn't know you wanted to ask.

Keeley is a second generation welder and IRATA rope tech, having found some great support at Women Building Futures in Alberta, Canada, Keeley has kicked down some doors and created a great future for herself and her kids, She is now passing the baton to her daughter as a IRATA level 1, the first mother daughter rope techs I have found in IRATA. Great little chat about how taking opportunities can...

Time to chat about all things  load sharing. Do we have to do it? Why should we do it? When don't we do it. Why you want to do it. Let us know what you do to load share. www.rattac.net

This week i had the pleasure of sitting down with Charlie, this is where it all started for me back in '98. Charlie on the other hand has been on the ropes since the 80's. Developing his  own techniques to ensure having a back up and using an Orange Chair??? A few trips down memory lane for me in this one.  2 mates having a chat. Hope you like it.

This week we have a quick chat about 5 bits of kit to have on your harness. I bet you have a few bits of kit of your own. let us know what you carry, send us a message on face book rope access tips tricks and chats. 

This week we sit down with Mikey Stevenson from Rope access and climbing podcast. We chat about how he got into rope access and represented Canada in the Petzl rope trip and the team walked away champions. Have a listen to a couple of rope techs comparing working, training and podcasting.

This week we have a fast and dirty episode on what a supervisor should check before a project.  A good listen for supervisors or soon to be supervisors. 

This week we chat to Daniel Thornton,  From one of the first guys at RAT to Vegas and back to his Celtic roots with Keltic Falcon.  I hope you enjoy this chat as much as I did, I think he was talking to his kids more than me and I loved it. 

This week we chat about the types of slings we use in rope access, what are the advantages and disadvantages of them all?

This week we sit down with Ryan and chat about going from sweeping the floors of a rope access company warehouse to sitting in a massive fridge in the dessert, and how he is to blame for any Global crisis with his travel plans.

First of all thank you for listening for a whole year. that's where I wanted to end this, but Damo had other ideas, hope you enjoy. X

Andy went from a shop assistant to starting the company that every rope tech in Australia wanted to  work for. With the dream team of Laura, Denis and Andy,  Vertech began. Could this really get you to a catamaran in the Caribbean? Have a listen to see if dreams can come true. And is that story of Andy and his shoe really true? can we belive  everything Denis B said way back in episode 10.  

This week we have a look at the ASAP from Petzl, see how it came about and when and where it is good and not so good to use.

This week we chat with Laura about getting into rope access as a female in Europe and working her way towards becoming an Assessor. www.rattac.net

After all the interest in the Singapore Special we discussed back in episode 43, we thought a chat about some tricks to help make for a quicker faster rescue. Kit list 3 cowstails, 1  Karabiner on each Descender, 1 Karabiner (no clutches or sirius) Hand ascender with a footloop 2 S Tec Duck R's 1 pulley 1 karbiner www.rattac.net  

Ben has been abseiling since SRT turned up in the UK back in 1982, a cave diving passion turned into a job offshore as a commercial diver, while on a platform abseilers went past him on the ropes and he found his new career.  He remembers back in 1989 there were about 50 guys and now IRATA has over 170,000 technicians trained. Let's see how you go from a Willans harness in the lake district t...

Simple question really, what do you do to stop you from cutting your when using a grinder or other scary spiny disk things? We have a chat about what we see people do, what they could do and different methods we have used over the years. https://www.5thpoint.com.au/product/beal-rope-defender/ https://www.5thpoint.com.au/product/dmm-k-pro-rope-protector-80/

This week we sit down with Nathan Hoette and have a chat about how you go from a dirt bag climber to working with the Kong to develop equipment and open an IRATA training centre at Kongs amazing facility in Italy, but still maintaining the love of being a dirt bag climber. If you have ever wondered the process to get a product from idea through the testing standards and into production, then this...

This week we have a chat about Rig For Rescue, If I ask you what you think of when I say set the site up Rigged For Rescue what do you imagine? We spend some time breaking this down and how we could set it up for different situations.

This week we sit down for a chat with Dirk from Ropes edge and discuss the great edge barriers they have produced using 3D printing. We chat about how long it takes for an idea to go from a white board to the finished product, and how we have both seen these great products used in the field. Ropes Edge also have offered some products for our competition this week, listen to the end to get the deta...

What a year!!! Not sure this is what we signed up for when we started this podcast nearly a year ago. We look back on how 2020 was, and how we dealt with it, we also look forward to projects we are planning for 2021. We couldn't have got to where we are with this podcast without you, and for that we thank you.  Stay safe, see ya soon, Cheers.

This week we work our way through some of the questions we have been sent from listeners and people in our training centres. Here is a taste of the questions we try to answer. Am I a member of IRATA as a technician? I have been told that a chest ascender is half a point, what's the story with that? When did we start using two ropes and why did this happen? If you think we are way off with our...

This week we sit down with James Hollingsworth from White Dragon Access and talk about how we protect our ropes, what is competency and how do we measure it. This chat took place a few months back after James had up published some great information on LinkedIn about Hazard identification and Risk Assessment  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hazard-identification-risk-assessment-james-hollingsworth/?...

This weeks episode is sponsored by Harken, check out all of the great industrial products. https://www.harkenindustrial.com/en/home/ We have a look at the 5ish features of our new favourite descender/hauling device. The Harken Clutch is the device that everyone wants to get in the kit bag. We also have the easiest competition ever in this weeks episode, so check it out. www.rattac.net

This week we catch up with Marcus Raby, we get to hear how he got into rope access and where it has taken him, watching London be lit up from the moonlight while working night shift and his first offshore project. We also chat about the TACs survey on what should and shouldn't be in the IRATA assessments. You will need a cup of Yorkshire tea for this one.