PPE Selection

[spinmaster1]

Hello,

This topic is mainly aimed at the riggers. I'll soon be buying all my PPE for rigging work and as it's a fairly expensive buy I thought it would be a good idea to get some advice on what to go for, based on some experience of using various bits of PPE. I can guess that Petzl are the most favoured but what types of kit do you use on a day to day basis? Can anyone recommend any other manufacturers? Are there any particular items you would recommend? Are there any suppliers that offer discounted training when buying their PPE? Any other tips and advise will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance,

Rob

[Snailtrail]

Some recent discussion on the matter here - http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=49517

[Seano]

I can guess that Petzl are the most favoured but what types of kit do you use on a day to day basis? Can anyone recommend any other manufacturers?

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=49517

 

Are there any particular items you would recommend? Are there any suppliers that offer discounted training when buying their PPE? Any other tips and advise will be greatly appreciated.

The plumb laser of choice is currently the Topcon (or Pacific Laser Systems) PLS3, but there is a Stanley 'Fatmax' laser (PB2) on the market now that's almost as good and much cheaper.

 

You're quite unlikely to be offered discounted training when buying PPE I'm afraid, though its possible you might be offered a wee bit of a discount on PPE when you buy training.

If you're contemplating taking a course you should be aware that many more roped-access (IRATA) trainers offer "entertainment industry" training than actually specifically know anything about the industry. You'd be daft, imo, to pay for training from any company that isn't actively engaged in entertainment industry rigging. (Which essentially means Total Fabs, UK Rigging, Backstage Academy, SWL er.. that's it, I think.)

Most courses (all of the good ones I believe) provide the PPE used for the course itself, so it might be worth holding off on buying kit until you see how you get on with what's provided.

 

If you don't already have it, you'll almost certainly be wanting an IPAF (category 3a and 3b) 'PAL' card at some point. Maybe someone can recommend an IPAF trainer that actually offers some worthwhile training (as opposed to paying a couple of hundred quid to spend the day watching a bored plant-fitter hitting the space bar on a powerpoint presentation and reading the captions off the screen). I can't, unfortunately, my last IPAF course was utter rubbish.

[TomG]

If you don't already have it, you'll almost certainly be wanting an IPAF (category 3a and 3b) 'PAL' card at some point. Maybe someone can recommend an IPAF trainer that actually offers some worthwhile training (as opposed to paying a couple of hundred quid to spend the day watching a bored plant-fitter hitting the space bar on a powerpoint presentation and reading the captions off the screen). I can't, unfortunately, my last IPAF course was utter rubbish.

 

I can highly recommend getting an IPAF ticket, they seem to come in handy everywhere, Ive only had mine 8months and already have made use of it over 30 times this year.

 

I trained at Kentec Training in Tonbridge, KENT. http://www.kentectraining.co.uk/ - The course was very informative, and wasn't some guy going through a powerpoint all day. the first 1/2 of the day was theory, followed by an afternoon of practical training and test. They tried to make the day as fun, yet focused, as possible with the practical test being a sort of competition between the candidates, fastest time with the least mistakes. Safety was still of up most importance through the testing, and penalties were given to mistakes such as:

• Lack of Observation
• Running over / hitting a cone or other object.
• Not Completing pre-use checks correctly
• ect...

Hope this helps,

Tom

 

[cooldc1]

We do all our picker & scissor lift training with Nationwide in Coventry, knowledgeable, keen instructors & they have centres all over the UK, nationwide in fact!

[spinmaster1]

Thanks for the replies. I have been trained in the IPAF 3a category which came with our scissor lift but apparently it wasn't an official IPAF course even though the powerpoint slides were from IPAF. I received a certificate from this but not a PAL card which would have been more useful for other venues. Does anyone know if I could get a PAL card using this certificate as evidence or would I have to sit through the whole thing again on an official IPAF course?

[Simon Lewis]

There is a benefit in having a card from IPAF insasmuch most people have heard of it, and the conveniently titled PAL appears to bestow similar status to that of a driving licence.

However, the requirement under PUWER is your MEWP should be "used only by people who have received adequate information, instruction and training". You have evidence of that training. Whether or not it gets recognised by whoever wants to know if you are trained is another matter.

 

IPAF do a good job in promoting safety in powered access, but they are a commercial body - and are unlikely to bestow recognition on training thay are not making money out of...

[Seano]

...they have centres all over the UK, nationwide in fact!

I guess that high quality of training isn't quite so nationwide though - it was one of their branches that provided the execrable training I was referring to in my last post. <_<

 

Whether or not it gets recognised by whoever wants to know if you are trained is another matter.

There's the rub - if that person is reasonable and reasonably well informed they'll quite probably be happy accept a copy of the certificate to bung in the file instead of photocopying a PAL card. Which isn't to say it will necessarily happen that way.

 

That said, a scissor lift tends to be rather less useful for rigging purposes than a boom anyway. Even if it's accepted without question, evidence of training on scissor lift only is unlikely to be very helpful much of the time I'm afraid.

[Riddle]

heightec offers all training candidates 10% discount on equipment for non IRATA courses and 30% discount on the IRATA courses.

 

We are also selling the Matrix harness at £55+VAT, this is due to excess stock and we need to make room for the new product range. Please be aware the sale harness does NOT have the side D attachments; however it can still be used for work positioning and fall arrest work.

 

 

Roger