Scaffolding is intrusive, unattractive and costly. It has a place in the modern construction/ renovation industry simply because people believe there aren’t other options.
Rigg access is that other option. It involves the knowledge based in rock climbing but applied to construction; whereby the worker abseils down the side of the structure, and performs the neccessary work in a harness.
Learn more about rigg access at http://www.irata.org/what_is_rope_access.php
Rigg access has many benefits over traditional scaffolding; these are just a few:
Cost
The cost of scaffolding on mid to large-scale projects can be prohibitive. Even on a small scale project such as painting a semi-detached house, the price can go into the thousands. Scaffold hire, assembly and disassembly each comes with its own costs and the sum total is often a lot higher than people expect. In comparison, rigg access can be assembled and disassembled in a day, there’s no rent cost and no time-consuming construction. Also, an unexpected but almost certain side effect of scaffolding is the cost to receive a permit from the council. Rigg access rarely needs a permit and is easily the more cost-effective option.
Accessibility
On larger-scale projects, every floor of scaffolding higher costs more, takes longer to set up and generates more stress. With rigg access, the accessibility question is solved with ease. The harness is simply set up at the top of the structure and the technician is lowered to the desired point. This makes the most difficult places to access easily accessible and negates the need for expensive, multi-leveled scaffolding.
Another point here is that scaffolding costs are cumulative. The higher up the scaffolding goes, the more it costs. Rigg access is generally a flat rate and far below that of a high-level scaffolding operation.
Time
On any project, time can be one of the most stressful and expensive factors involved. To set up scaffolding, the scaffolding must be erected, rented for the period of use and then taken down. The bigger the project, the longer these three processes take. In any project that involves customers or visitors coming to a structure, the scaffolding acts as a double time-loss initiative. The time costs of the scaffolding are matched by the loss of visitation due to the unsightly nature of scaffolding, the blocked access points and the heavy transport of scaffolding materials. These costs continue for the duration of the scaffolding project.
The benefit of rigg access is clear here. It takes a small percentage of the time a scaffolding project takes, the work is assembled on roof level, not ground level and apart from the immediate-area cordons, if visitors didn’t look up, they wouldn’t know work was being done.
Safety
The very nature of rigg access work makes it safer. On any industry project, time can be measured in man-at-risk hours. These are the combined hours that every member of the workforce spends working onsite, under typical industry-risk conditions. With the reduced manpower of rigg access, the man-at-risk hours are reduced also. This makes for a quantitatively safer method. With the harness system, safety gear, primary safety device and backup safety device, rigg access is often said to be one of the most safety-regulated practices in modern industry.
Download the IRATA rigg access safety report at http://www.irata.org/safety_records.php
Rigg access has many benefits as a more cost effective, accessible, fast and equally safe if not safer practice than traditional scaffolding. Less cost allows more care to be taken with better materials. Better accessibility allows difficult operations to be undertaken with ease. Faster work saves money. Most important of all, safety practices ensure work can be done without fear of danger. Rigg access is the future of work positioning.
For more information, visit http://www.hsimagazine.com/article.php?article_id=621