Rope Access – Why Experience Matters

When you’ve got rope access technicians working at twenty stories off of the ground maintaining your building, experience is everything.

Rope access is becoming a very important aspect of exterior building maintenance because of the savings in cost; but the reason that rope access specialists have got everyone’s attention is because they are skilled trades and abseilers combined.

Experience in Abseiling

Before anything else, a rope access technician needs to be trained in abseiling. This can be done by going directly to  IRATA for training and certification. The International Rope Access Trade Association was created over two decades ago as a way to properly train and certify abseilers who wanted to go into the trade side of the industry as opposed to just doing abseiling as a sport.

Whether a person used to abseil in caves or down mountains in the past, IRATA would still need to certify them. This is so that the highest level of safety is maintained.

The more experience, the less incidents. IRATA has an excellent safety record since they started the association in the UK. This is attributed to the training, the safety of abseiling as well as the competence and care of the individuals.

Rope access technicians never work alone. This ensures that one can always get over to another if the need arises. When the technicians have experience working together, there is greater synergy.

Some of the technicians in the Sussex Rope Access group have been working together for over twenty years. As a result, the group is a well-oiled machine that can cover a building more efficiently than many other teams across the globe.

Experience in the Building Industry

Experience in the industry is equally important when it comes to rope access. If they can abseil down the building on ropes, that’s great – but it is only half of the job requirement. The technician must actually know what they are doing as well.

What Makes Good Rope Access Technicians

Experience must be in the actual trade skill too, otherwise the job isn’t going to be quality. Brooks’ team have backgrounds ranging from painting, structural concrete repairs, plastering, brick pointing and many other building trades.

Rope access companies are bringing something new to the playing field that scaffolding companies and traditional maintenance contractors can’t bring. However, rope access companies are only effective when there is experience backing them. Being certified by IRATA is essential.

Once they’re on the building, though, it’s only going to be a great job if they know what they’re doing so experience must encompass everything.