Posted By Ben Hughes Does anybody have an knowledge regarding safety harnesses? I have been asked to consider the harnesses we currently use within our offshore wind turbines. The main concern between our technicians is the physical weight and ergonomics as they have to wear full body survival suits, full body harness and life jackets which in total is very cumbersome in an already physical environment. Currently we use the Miller revolution harness, with fall arrest and work positioning functionalities/attachments. While we find the harness excellent in terms of its durability, features and components, its weight is an issue. The use of full body harnesses and fall arrest is not in question, but its the use of the work positioning harness thats been queried. We are wondering if it would be better to have a lighter weight harness for our normal operations and use the Miller Revolution harness only when needed (probably about 2% of time) with the goal of reducing the workload on our technicians. Whats people opinions on this? Could this have an impact on rescue procedures? would anyone have any experience of the gains i.e. weights of different types of harness (full body mandatory)? Could the use of two systems cause issues? Any other issues I havent considered? Sorry to ask so many questions!! But to sum up in basic terms, would a lighter harness be acceptable?

Posted By mbarrett Hi Ben I have had a quick look at the harnesses you are using and to be honest they look pretty dire! No padding in the legs, double shoulder straps etc. try looking at the Petzl Navaho safety harness - light weight comfortable and easy to use they also do a half harness which may be more appropriate for your line of work although they are a bit more expensive than your bog standard harness. I personnally would not go down the route of having several different types of harness as this leads to confusion as to what needs to be worn where, how and when. the other thing to consider when choosing harnesses is suspension trauma, the likelihood of problems arising from using a padded harness are greatly reduced. I do not have any connection with petzl however my husband has worked offshore for many years and we have had in depth discussions about benefits and failings of various work at height gear!

Posted By Ian Waldram If you post your query on the Step Change website (you'll have to register first), I'm sure you will get lots of detail about what scaffolders, etc. currently use offshore. My immediate query is why survival suits are needed, as the harness is intended to prevent immersion? In the early days of UK offshore there was a similar 'double standard' re wearing of lifejackets on a completed scaffold over the water. If it's suitably safe to work on, no one should be able to fall into the water! Sorry I don't have the specific current knowledge about offshore sector PPE, but lots of the Step Change particpants will have.

Posted By Dave Merchant For Ian W and others who are thinking the same thing - the reason why a harness AND LJ/immersion suit are worn together is because of the unique way offshore turbines are accessed. The turbine 'pile' section leads up to a platform which is positioned well above mean high water level, and is accessed via a fixed vertical ladder that can be up to 20m high. Usually this is in at least two sections - the upper section will often have a fall arrest wire or rail system fitted to it, and so requires the use of a harness and/or lanyards. The bottom section, which rises out of the water, is impossible to fit with a wire or rail as the worker has to literally jump on and off the ladder from the tender vessel - WTG tenders have a vague platform and buffers at their bows, and motor against the turbine while the crew transfers - but as the boat moves with the waves, it'd be incredibly dangerous to try and clip to the ladder - you can easily be crushed by the boat or drowned by a wave. So for the first half of the climb, crews are at risk of falling into the sea, hence the LJ/suit, but for the second half they need conventional fall arrest equipment. It's not possible to take stuff off until you arrive at the turbine tower itself, as the inter-ladder platform is usually no more than a 1m square of weld mesh plate. There's also the issue of escape - there are a number of potential reasons why crews working in the nacelle (the housing at the top containing the generator) may need to escape directly into the sea, using an abseil autodescender system. That of course means both types of PPE are needed, as the tender will keep station some distance away. There are probably more similarities with harbour pilots than with oil rig workers in terms of the way they (dis)embark, and the "leap and hope" idea scares the pants off many with a rig-based background - but there's no other way to do it. You can't helo transfer onto something with 50m rotating blades on top!