Rope access, scaffolding or a MEWP: when each one makes sense

Three ways to get up there

For temporary work at height there are, essentially, three families of solutions:

• Scaffolding, erected around the work area, creating a stable platform for several people and materials.
• Mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs), which take the worker up to the work point from the ground.
• Rope access, in which the technician descends or ascends suspended, attached to two ropes anchored to the structure.

None of them is best in every case. The choice depends on the job, its duration, the site and the risks.

What the law says

The European directive on work equipment, now Directive 2009/104/EC and transposed in Portugal by Decree-Law no. 50/2005 (in Portuguese), gives priority to collective protection measures over personal ones and requires the most suitable equipment to be chosen to ensure safe working conditions. Rope access and positioning techniques are permitted where the risk assessment shows that the work can be done safely and that the use of other, safer work equipment is not justified.

The same directive sets conditions for rope access:

• at least two separately anchored ropes, one as the working line and the other as the safety (back-up) line;
• a suitable harness, connected to the safety line;
• safe means of ascent and descent on the working line and a mobile fall arrest device on the safety line;
• tools attached to the worker's harness or seat;
• work planned and supervised so that the worker can be rescued immediately in an emergency;
• adequate and specific training, including rescue procedures.

In other words: rope access is not a shortcut. It is a system with its own rules, and rescue is part of it from the start.

ISO 22846 and IRATA

The international standard ISO 22846-1 sets out the fundamental principles of rope access on buildings, structures and natural features, where ropes are the primary means of access, support and protection against falls. Part 2 of the standard is a code of practice.

IRATA International, the industry association, publishes its International Code of Practice (ICOP) in four parts: principles and controls, detailed guidance, annexes on associated practices, and relevant national legislation. It also runs a training, assessment and certification scheme for technicians at three levels, the highest of which includes supervisory competence. IRATA itself describes rope access as a complete system in which planning, management, competence and suitable equipment carry equal weight.

When ropes make sense

In our experience, rope access wins when:

• the work is localised: repairing a few joints, fixing cladding, inspecting a chimney. Scaffolding would have to cover the whole façade to work on a few square metres;
• access is difficult: wind turbine blades, inside silos, under bridges, slopes, roofs with rooflights, or structures above equipment that must not be touched;
• the site has to keep running: a narrow street, the entrance to a building, a plant in operation. With ropes, little is left on the ground, and only for a short time;
• you need to see up close: during an inspection, the technician is within arm's reach of the surface and can photograph, measure and mark from the same access;
• the work is short or recurring: periodic inspections, cleaning, minor repairs. Erecting and dismantling a structure for every visit outweighs the job itself.

When they don't

We also tell you when another solution is better:

• full façade refurbishments, with many teams and trades working at the same time for months;
• work with heavy or bulky materials that need to stay close to the worker;
• tasks that need a stable, wide platform for a long time, or equipment that cannot be safely suspended;
• areas easily reached by a platform, with firm ground and clear space, where a MEWP does the job with no set-up.

Often, the right answer is a combination: scaffolding or a platform where they make sense, ropes for the points they can't reach.

How to compare proposals

When comparing a rope access proposal with a scaffolding one, look at the total cost, not just the labour rate:

• erection, hire and dismantling of the scaffolding or the platform;
• permits to occupy the public highway and how long it stays occupied;
• the impact on people using the building or the site: entrances, parking, lost production;
• the total time until the job is finished.

And always ask any contractor how rescue is planned and who supervises on site.

How we work

Before proposing ropes, we look at the site or at the photographs and drawings. If the job is better done another way, we will tell you. If it is done on ropes, we prepare the work plan, the risk assessment and the rescue plan before anyone goes up, in accordance with the qualifications required for each job.