A permanent horizontal lifeline system from Honeywell has been successfully installed at a major financial institution in Rivonia, Johannesburg by leading rope access specialist Skyriders Access Specialists Pty Ltd. “It has been a great project from the point of view of demonstrating our flexibility and determination to complete it successfully. We promised true and were going to deliver no matter what,” comments Marketing Manager Mike Zinn.

Challenges faced over the duration of the three-year project included the initial discovery that the structure Skyriders proposed to bolt its system onto was inadequate for the task. This meant a special interface had to be designed between the building and the Honeywell lifeline system, all while keeping within tight budgetary constraints.

In addition, a lack of as-built drawings for the entire campus where the financial institution is located meant that each bracket had to be designed from scratch. “In very few places was there one bracket type that was effectively duplicated numerous times. It was literally a case of a new bracket every single time,” stresses Zinn. The project was also impacted by the Covid-19 lockdown in that there was an initial hold-up at the Honeywell factory and subsequent shipping and port delays due to global supply chain constraints.

The Honeywell lifeline system was opted for by the client to allow third-party maintenance contractors to carry out inspection and repair work on the roofs, gutters and tiling of the entire campus, which has an older slate roof requiring constant upkeep. Skyriders assisted its client by installing temporary lifelines to allow essential maintenance to proceed uninterrupted while the main project progressed.

Skyriders had installed the original lifelines at the campus, which have to be inspected routinely according to regulation in conjunction with an engineer. This system had reached the ends of its service life and needed to be replaced.

The financial institution subsequently put out a tender for a new fall arrest system and Skyriders was successful in its bid for the state-of-the-art Honeywell system. “The specific issue was that off-the-shelf systems were not quite working in certain areas of the campus. Hence the engineer assisted us to design a hybrid system that could be integrated seamlessly with the Honeywell product,” highlights Zinn.

This is a growing niche market for Skyriders, which has already undertaken similar projects for other major financial institutions. “Blue Chip clients demanding stringent adherence to all the necessary regulations and legislation with regard to health and safety can rest assured that we have the flexibility and expertise to provide the best solutions possible,” concludes Zinn.