Posted By garyh My experience of this was gained as a manager of a scaffold company, so my advice may not apply literally. I would approach a company which provides training in this. They can advise you on what types of kit is required. For scaffolding we used a "gotcha" kit and trained people to use it. Basically the suspended person has an extra rope attached to them whilst they are hanging and the rescuer uses their own weight via a winch to lift them up to the platform or takes the weight, cuts the old line and lowers them to the floor. This has to happen in minutes by the way! Some so called "rescue plans" say that they will call the emergency services. These plans are not worth the paper they are written on. You have to be able to rescue people "in house" and the emergency services back you up. Hope this helps.

Posted By Peter MacDonald I'll second the Spanset Gotcha system. Training required and lots of refresher practice to be done though. Peter

Posted By William What is common offshore is the use of the sala blocks retriever sets for clipping onto the harness and if the person falls they can be retrieved using the same block that stopped them falling using the handle at the side. We were also using a new piece of kit this year in case you were left hanging it was an adjustable strap which connected to the lower part of the harness above the left and right hand side hips and in the event of you being left hanging there you could pull these straps out and use them to stand on taking the weight off the groin area.

Posted By Tim Corbett Has anyone done this for a scissor lift would like to see what has been considered.

Posted By Andy Binstead i've worked with a company called XI training based near Lancaster - been on good courses and always happy to provide answers to my stupid questions!

Posted By Makka Thanks for all the suggestions and advice much appreciated, the image of certain people on site here absailing made me chuckle! We have been supplied with new fall arrest equipment this year so replacement is unlikely in the near future. The kit we have is a webbing type fall arrester which will stop falling in 0.8m (in ideal conditions). I am looking at the odd incident where a fall may well happen to one of our people, whilst gully clearing, window fixing, or light bulb changing, and I am also thinking about the number of contractors we are likely to have in the near future who will all be working at height. I know they should have this all covered off, but I would like our people, and first aiders to know what to do and how to do it in the event of a fall, and have the appropriate equipment available. Does anyone have a plan written up that could help me formulate ours?

Posted By Richard Hinckley We have used the Rescue Genie which is a bespoke device for Remote Rescue from Height, if anyone would like further information please email me. richard@totalaccess.co.uk

Posted By Phil The Fire & Rescue service will NOT be able to help you in time, so dont rely upon them. The first appliance on scene will have a height safety pack, and nothing more. Some brigades have specialist line rescue teams, but they are often not dedicated teams, and often between 30mins - 1 hour away. As suspension trauma has killed in as little as 6 minutes, this is not acceptable. And what if they are out at an RTC or other rescue job when you call them? Dialling 999 or 112 is not an acceptable or robust control measure Thankfully the HSE now reiterate what we have been training for years, ie "do not rely upon emergency services, if you have special circumstances, YOU need to make special arrangements. Many Brigades havelittle or no knowledge of suspension trauma ( I know, because i train over 20 of the Brigades troughout the country in trauma, and supension trauma) Assess the risk, and put in place control measures.

Posted By Phil The "suspension trauma straps" that Greenhams et al sell are only usefull if the casualty is conscious, and trained and practiced in their use. A cost effective solution is to make a footloop by tying a figure of 9 knot into a short length of 10mm polyprop rope. Add a £5 karabiner, and it does the same job for a quarter of the price!!

Posted By Chris Pope Roy Rogers - my email is clp@taunton83.freeserve.co.uk