Burnham
Woods walker
Ok, I have some questions that keep bugging me. And some of these subjects keep rearing their ugly heads during my discussions with my peers on the USFS tech. advisory group. Not interested in safety police action here. Just want to hear opinions of where we stand meeting recommended standards.
As I interpret ANSI Z133.1, all life support hardware has to meet or exceed breaking strength ratings of 5,000 lbs. or 23 kN. Does anyone see a different reading?
If that's the case, how are we to view use of several rope grabs that many of us use daily that do not pass this standard? Case in point: the Petzl microcender/micrograb is rated by Petzl with a breaking strength of 3,500 lbs.
I am fully aware that this units slips on the rope at far lower loading than that BS rating, so it's not a question of safety I ask about, more one of could OSHA cite an employer for it's use?
Plenty of other examples: to my knowlege, no handled ascender meets the 5,000 lb. BS rating either. Again, they will destroy the rope if dynamically loaded at far less than 5,000 lbs. so the issue of breakage is rather moot as a practical matter, but are we "violating" Z133.1 when we use them?
As I interpret ANSI Z133.1, all life support hardware has to meet or exceed breaking strength ratings of 5,000 lbs. or 23 kN. Does anyone see a different reading?
If that's the case, how are we to view use of several rope grabs that many of us use daily that do not pass this standard? Case in point: the Petzl microcender/micrograb is rated by Petzl with a breaking strength of 3,500 lbs.
I am fully aware that this units slips on the rope at far lower loading than that BS rating, so it's not a question of safety I ask about, more one of could OSHA cite an employer for it's use?
Plenty of other examples: to my knowlege, no handled ascender meets the 5,000 lb. BS rating either. Again, they will destroy the rope if dynamically loaded at far less than 5,000 lbs. so the issue of breakage is rather moot as a practical matter, but are we "violating" Z133.1 when we use them?
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