Hi, when you say escape from manual handling equipment what are you refering to?  Or is it MEWP's you are refering to?

Surely all Training on those Order pickers would include what to do when the unit gets stuck in mid air, One of the procedures is letting the Man cage down from the base unit.

I'm not sure where the idea came from that you just throw a rope out, Climb over the safety Cage and shimmy down the rope??

Best bet is to either have a means to sound an alarm, a siren or Hooter, or means of contacting others in the area be kit by Mobile phone, Shouting or other audiable way.

All these working at Hieght equipment have a way to lower the cage down from the base unit, thats the safest way i'm afriad

It is the scenario of the forks being in pallets on racking, the unit failing and there being an imminent risk that has seen the implementation of rope escape. The only risk for which its use is fully justified is fire. Other procedures would be followed for illness or general failure of the machine when forks are in racking.

Rope escape requires continual training (especially when using agency), although this gets tied in with FLT training, monitoring of harnesses and LOLER inspection. It's manageable but we've heard rumblings some companies are moving away from it.

Any users of rope escape give an insight on how often you would train users. General observation at the moment is on starting the job and then annually.

I spent many years teaching FLT, part of which included teaching tri-directional VNA truck drivers how to abseil to safety. We used to insist that the escape training was done on annual basis and if you couldn't do it, you didn't drive man up trucks anymore.

Our second batch of trucks came with an inertial reel system which I didn't like so we swapped them for the braked descender system to standardise with our first batch.

Hello John Gibbs,

I was trained as a VNA man up operator many moons ago and the training included abseiling - controlled descent. As standard, there would be an abseil kit in the operators cab.

I would pose the question to your line manager or safety rep and ask why this wasn't included in the training, and why you don't posses a kit for controlled descent - assumming you have had training specifically for VNA man up?

I will echo PDarlow you need to ask the employer - supervisor or manager.

Your employer under their duties is meant to provide sufficient instruction, information and training so that you are able to safely conduct employed tasks even if you are a temporary (agency) worker or currently subject to a period of probation.

That instruction should also include any significant findings from Risk Assessment and I doubt there is any sane person who would not contemplate that it is possible the operator basket may become stuck at height and a rescue plan / equipment may be required.

This cannot, and should not, be dependent upon the local Fire & Rescue Service attending site as:

1) They could be busy on other call outs

2) They may not have suitable equipment

3) They may not have training in VNA rescue