Using rope access for construction tasks provides substantial cost and time savings, states industrial rope access specialist Skyriders Access Specialists marketing manager Mike Zinn.

“When the cost of access is deemed disproportionate to the scope of work, the use of rope is a cheaper, safer and faster way of completing the tasks,” he says.

Skyriders focuses on the heavy industry, construction, cement, petrochemicals and the power generation industries, while providing services such as steel erections, bolt services, inspection, maintenance, concrete services and specialist coating and painting.

“The technician who performs the tasks also installs the rope access systems and rig- ging to gain access to the construction or repair area, which saves on costs,” Zinn explains, noting that, with other access methods, there are often different contractors – one to perform the task and one to provide access – which can increase the costs of a project.

“It does not make logical or financial sense to build a 5 m or 10 m scaffold tower just to tighten and torque 12 bolts,” says Zinn.

“Many industrial sites require maintenance in places where access is difficult or limited, such as smoke stacks or cooling towers,” he says, adding that traditional access methods, such as scaffolding, crane and crane- suspended man baskets, or mobile elevating work platforms, might be impossible to use effectively.

Often, the cost of access to perform regular maintenance outweighs the actual cost of maintenance in a company’s budget, which may lead to maintenance being reduced, says Zinn. But with rope access, however, simple inspections, repairs and maintenance can be done within a company’s budget, he says.

“Once the permit to perform the task has been cleared, technicians can rig the ropes within a very short space of time, whereas scaffolding construction alone can take up to a few days,” says Zinn.

large steel and vanadium slag plant in Mpuma- langa continued production while Skyriders conducted structural strengthening of the plant’s roof, adds Zinn.

New Prospects

Although the many heavy industry clients still prefer scaffolding, Zinn says many companies are aware of rope access as an alternative, while some are fast becoming supporters of this access method.

Skyriders was awarded a long-term contract of undisclosed value and duration last month to conduct maintenance on the tank farms of a large petrochemicals company in Mpumalanga, says Zinn.

This year, Skyriders continues to perform different tasks at 12 of the State-owned power utility Eskom’s power stations.

Other ongoing projects for the electricity company include work at the Medupi power station, in Lephalale, in Limpopo and at the Kusile power station near eMalahleni, in Mpumalanga. Skyriders initially had eight rope access technicians working at the Medupi power station when its contract started in August 2011.

Currently, 64 men, divided into 12 teams, perform tasks, such as bolting and bolt torquing, torque verification for third parties, inspection, painting protective steel coatings, and installing safety nets to catch falling tools and bolts. A permanent team of 40 rope access technicians at the Kusile power station conduct similar tasks.

Skyriders also provides industrial cleaning in inaccessible places, where rope access technicians help clean ash and dust build-up in power stations.

“Scaffolding is still one of the most popular methods of access,” maintains Zinn. “If it is a major build or construction that will take place over a long period of time, with various tasks, such as cladding, painting and bolting, scaffolding is the way forward, but it is costly” he says.

Growing the Academy

The company has a training academy, Height Wise, a Skyriders subsidiary, in Johannes- burg, where the company’s technicians, as well as any other interested persons who want to qualify as rope access technicians, are trained.

Trainees are instructed in fall-arrest levels, rope access levels and fall protection planning levels and the academy currently has 30 trainees, a number which has increased 25% from 2012 to 2013, he concludes.