Good day. Could you, please, advise on the following issue. We have on the rig big cement bags laid down in several layers, using crane. The total height of the stacking is about 4 meters. Employees have to climb this height without any ladder to sling the bags. How can we secure the slinger from falling? Is it a good way to use harness connected by fall arrestor to the crane hook? Thank you in advance.

Thank you for the reply. But my question is not about stacking itself (sure, employee has to climb up), but how to provide the best solution to secure the employee from falling from the stacking. Can you advise?

At the start of operation there was the following picture: 1t big bags each 85*85*85 cm. First layer length - 30bags (85cm*30=25.5m), width - 30bags (25.5m) Following 3 layers are smaller and smaller to form a structure of pyramid It is permanent (not rotational) storage, becoming smaller when there are cement jobs on the drilled wells. Unfortunately, nobody controlled offloading. As the result - stacking, which seems to be unstable and hazardous. We will bear it in mind in the future operations. Anyway, we looked the stacking around and found a good place for a ladder. This way will reduce the risk associated with climbing as a monkey up the stacking. Could you explain in more details your phrase "off load one using that then get the operator to clip onto the inner row using a positioning belt or harness with a short fixed strop - fall prevention." What is the point to connect the positioning belt or harness to? Thanks.

The reason i asked is it possible to stack the bags of cement in a way so your employees don't have to climb is because of the hierarchy of The Work@Height Regs. At the top of the hierarchy, it states all work at height must be avoided if possible. Spreading the bags over double the area would half the current height down to 2m. It would negate the problem of preventing a fall. Is this not practical to do so?

Hi. Thanks for explanation. Difficult to understand via forum your suggested procedure regarding offloading. Sorry :) Anyway, we will implement definite procedure in the future operations as this issue was missed. Bags are lifted in pairs. If it is safer for us to lift single bag, we'll do it. frankc, it is not possible to lay all bags in one layer as there is no so much place available for stacking.

Usually we lift 50-60 1t bags every 3-4 days (one day lift, then 3-4 days off)

Sure, we should avoid working at height where practicably possible. It is not possible, when there is limited area available for bags. Now, we should think of the safest way for offloading these bags. If you have faced with offloading a stacking of big bags, could you advise?

Good idea, however, all cement bags are delivered using winter road. Then location is only accessible by a helicopter. No way to avoid stacking.