Technical Guidance

Be Prepared

Before considering work at height, or access into a confined space, carry out a risk assessment for all of the work activities that will be undertaken, identify the hazards and determine what precautions you will take to minimise the risk. Plan and be prepared for the worst.

Ensure that personnel are competent, fit for the task, have the right equipment and are trained in its correct use. Have a competent person supervise the work.

Fall Clearance

When considering the suitability of your chosen solution, ensure that you take account of fall clearances required to protect the worker and safely arrest the fall. Where ever possible, fall clearances should be minimised, by ensuring the anchor is above the users head and the user equipment, such as a retractable lifeline, minimises the free fall distance.

Always allow a safety factor of 1m [3ft] to take account of stretch or deflection in components. Ensure hazards are not present beneath the fall hazard, that could cause injury.

Our products are designed to minimise deflection and therefore reduce the required fall clearance.

Swing Fall Hazards

When considering the suitability of your chosen solution, ensure that it can be located above the workers head, with minimal opportunity for a swing fall to occur. Swing falls can cause injury to the worker and can also destabilise portable devices. The greater the angle from the worker to the anchor, the greater the arc, the faster the velocity and the greater the risk.

When selecting your product and determining how you will put it in to use, familiarise yourself with the limitations and restrictions in respect of deviations from the centre of the anchor.

When using a gantry, workers must not go outside of the footprint of the A-frames. When using a davit, follow the instructions for maximum deviations, as going beyond approved limits can exponentially increase loads on sockets and bases, leading to potential system failure.

Rescue Planning

When considering the suitability of your chosen solution, ensure that you have a plan to enable the rescue of a fallen worker or workers should the need arise.

Leaving workers suspended in safety harnesses for prolonged periods of time can cause physical and psychological trauma. By minimising fall clearance and planning for this eventuality, the difficulties and challenges associated with rescue can be reduced.

REID Lifting offer products and accessories that can be used to assist with rescue when using our gantries and davits. Please contact a member of our team for more information.

Installation of Sockets

When installing sockets for davits, it is essential that the substrate or structure to which the socket if being fitted is validated as suitable by a qualified person, such as a structural engineer.

Where installing in to concrete using a chemical resin, the depth of the hole that is drilled in the concrete is dependent upon the type of concrete and the radius of the davit.

Please refer to our product overview for guidance. [All scenarios should be independently validated before installation. Only trained and competent personnel should carry out socket installations].

Following installation in concrete and after the chemical resin has cured in accordance with manufacturers instructions, the anchors should be proof load tested before the system is put into first use.

Limitations of Use

When considering the suitability of your chosen solution, ensure that you fully understand the limitations of use of the equipment. Misuse could lead to serious injury or death.

For more information please read our Assembly & Operation Guides available to view and download here.