POLE CLIMBING CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS
By William S. Murdoch
In 2006 Indianapolis
Power and Light (IPL)
initiated 100% fall protection when climbing
wood poles. They implemented a Fall Restrict
System (FRS) when
climbing and the IPL linemen were issued the
device after the appropriate training. Difficulties
developed when using the
FRS to climb vine-covered or heavily obstructed
poles.
To maintain 100%
fall protection, the linemen had to continually
double belt over objects
which resulted in high
fatigue and was task punishing. The linemen
raised a number of concerns and wanted to
regress to free climbing.
IPL was committed to
resolving these issues and
maintain the 100% fall
protection for their workers.
PROBLEM SOLVING
Under the direction
of Kevin Lamb, (IPL
Safety Team Lead) a safety team was assembled to
develop a solution that
would allow 100% fall
protection and be less
task punishing.
The team looked at
the most difficult scenarios and tried to resolve
them through procedural
processes. They identified
a variety of actions that
could be taken to complete the work aloft
through other means such
Vine-covered or heavily obstructed poles pose a hazard for linemen.
Continued on Page 10
