Good afternoon all, An issue that continues to cause me concern but I'm struggling to find RP solutions: Scenario is lining or checking (Surveying) of a slope face around 20m / 30m slope length (engineered clay) or installation of a pozi-drain system when the clay is moist. This could be a 1:2.5 / 1:3 slope. Current measures of control include footwear only and operative caution. Rope ladders and harnesses attached to kelley blocks or heavy plant has been seen for working steeper slope faces (1:2) but not this angle. When wet, the slope faces become very slippery and working on or traversing them becomes a foreseeable risk of slipping. In terms of providing and maintaining a safe place of work, safe access and egress, this is particularly challenging as you can see and probably easy to prosecute or claim for failure of duties of care. Handrails cannot be provided or steps for that matter as the slope face is engineered. Often the teams work on the liner which cannot be punctured therefore 'climbing type' footwear cannot be worn. Has anyone got any bright ideas or cast some sanity on this activity and associated risk of slipping that I may not have considered? Thanks in anticipation Simon

Simon Though the use of conventional mountaineering crampons with spikes about 30mm long understandably poses a risk of puncture damage to lining materials, would 'microspikes' (trade marked name) with their relatively shorter spikes of about 11 mm still pose a risk of damage? Alternatively how about snow-gripper devices which fit over shoes and incorporate either short studs or horizontally-laid coiled metal springs to provide traction on slippery surfaces? Also, in addition to the need to avoid damage to liner materials, I guess the effectiveness or otherwise of footwear devices depends on how sticky the clay surfaces can be at times. Therefore, has anyone considered using one or more tripod mounted laser-type scanning/surveying instruments of the sort increasingly shown on TV for 3 dimensional digital surveys of buildings, archaeological sites and numerous other types of features and locations? If this is feasible it should avoid or minimise the need for anyone to physically access the slopes involved and thereby eliminate/minimise the likelihood of slips and damage to surfaces. It might also be a quicker and more accurate method of surveying though I've no idea of i) the purchase or hire costs for such instruments and ii) how easy or otherwise they are to use. Hopefully, other more knowledgeable forum users can help with these aspects.

It might also be worth trying snowshoes or a variation of them in order to gain a significant increase in surface area contact with the clay slope compared with that of the undersides of conventional footwear. The greater surface area contact of snowshoes might enable wearers to have greater traction/grip while walking on the slopes. This suggestion is based on the principle used when a simple device is placed under the feet of a ladder to give increased contact with a ground surface and minimise the risk of the ladder sliding while in use. On a techno-historical note, the use of clay is a simple, effective and long-established method of providing an impervious lining for various features such as canals, artificial lakes and ponds.