Tim wrote;

"Like a seat-belt, it will "lock" when it senses a fall, and an internal braking system will bring you to a quick, controlled stop and avoid the "jerk" that NYCRRson refers to."

I have used the full body harness with the lanyard and the shock absorber, and I can assure you I still walk funny and speak a few octaves higher after an arrested fall. Hanging from a rope is not natural, your body is designed to support you from your feet, not your groin. And the lanyard is always hanging up on some thing, you have to constantly keep an eye on the lanyard, even when it's behind and above you. It is a very low productivity setup.

We rely heavily on work platforms (sometimes custom engineered) with proper railings, and try to keep situations where it is necessary to "tie off" (attach the body harness) to an absolute minimum. Of course we have access to "lift-a-loft's" (those wheeled vehicles with the boom and a platform) so we can go almost anywhere up to about 100 feet off the ground.

With the budget of most railroad museums I still highly recommend scaffolding, worth all the money many times over. Much more comfortable working situation, and as someone mentioned you have a firm surface to "push against" when you need leverage (drilling, hammering, etc.). Ships have to do the overhead work with bosun's chairs because there is usually no deck space for scaffolding, but it is a slow process. Your center of gravity in a bosun's chair is only slightly above the "rotation axis" of the chair and you are constantly "rocking" back and forth above the seat.

Oh, and to do it properly (hang a worker from a cable) you really need "personnel rated" stainless steel cables, these are individually strength tested after the fittings are applied and are only to be used once. I know someone whose company installed lighting on the bottom of the bridges across the Niagara River (an ~180 foot drop) and the cost for the proper cables was about 20% of the total cost.

Most of the "lower cost" lifting equipment (chain hoists, cables, trolleys (like in RCD's photo) etc.) have a warning on them; "NOT TO BE USED FOR LIFTING PERSONNEL", that is there for a reason, the stuff is not tested to the necessary safety requirements. Likewise, scaffolding has weight limits; "DO NOT OVERLOAD, MAX LOAD 50 lbs/sq ft (for example)". These warnings came about because folks tried to be "creative" with the equipment and use it for things other than what it was designed for. "work platforms" are designed for people to stand on and work, "lifting mechanisms" are designed for lifting things (other than people). Two different design requirements.

Be smart and safe, check what the specs are on the equipment you use.

Cheers, Kevin.

At RMNE, we invested in a large quantity of new scaffolding a few years ago, enough to go "two high" the full length of a coach (80 ft) and around one end (10 ft), plus a bit more. This is one of the best purchases we've made, the stuff is substantial, safe and sturdy, and has made such projects as coach re-roofing much easier.

We have also used borrowed/rented scissor lifts to good advantage.

Some work has been done using ladders, especially in tight areas where the scaffolding does not fit.

The idea of wearing a harness and swinging from a chain fall, attempting to do useful work, is simply ludicrous at best, and downright dangerous as well.

Howard P.

[/quote] I was thinking of something more like this hooking up the hoist to a rock climbers vest or bosun's chair. No need to climb down and move the ladder to acess the next section that needs painting as you have side to side movement, no scaffolding to set up or put away, and no falling.[/quote]

What do you do with your feet? While you are dangling at the proper height to work on the letterboard, your feet are scuffing the crap out of the carside below.

That sounds like a great solution you get access platforms at many different hights (stairs) It can be moved around without any to do. It may not fold up as nice as scaffolding but it has advantages. It seems like rope access would work better and safer for something like a paint job as opposed to a ladder but anything else you have the equal and opposite reaction thing working agenest you.

where soft shoes and paint from the top down. It seems to be working for this guy. Or you can hang yourself from your feet and since the blood will rush to your head so you can think better. That last part was a joke btw.

That's not a joke though. . A pump that has to raise water the height of a 6 foot man, that's 6 feet of "head" (in the hydraulic sense) or about 3 psi. Your heart has to pump your blood up that height. It's possible for your blood to pool into your legs to where there is not enough left in upper-body circulation to keep your brain alive. This will kill you.

It's rare in normal life for two reasons. First the muscles in your legs are actively working, and their contraction helps push blood back up. Even if you faint, this condition corrects itself because when you fall down, your noggin is near the level of your legs and pumping is much easier, so flow is restored.

Now, put you in a harness. Your legs are not supporting your weight, no muscle action pushes the blood back up, so the problem is more likely. You faint, but the problem does not auto-correct because your harness holds you upright. In the time it takes for your spotter to look up from Angry Birds, notice you are still, go "Joe? Joe? Joe!" and realize he must figure out how to lower you down... you suffer brain death or worse, brain damage.

So working from harnesses, no, no no no no no. Get scaffolding or a boom lift.

I actually think the boom lift is safer. It's easy to fall off scaffolding and harnesses are impracticable. It's damn hard to fall out of a boom lift, unless you make a fairly short list of mistakes which are easy to avoid.

So sitting down in q chair is unsafe?