Tower rescue: skate block with REEVE
REEVE allows an efficient and clean setup of all the necessary equipment.
Warnings
- Carefully read the Instructions for Use used in this technical advice before consulting the advice itself. You must have already read and understood the information in the Instructions for Use to be able to understand this supplementary information.
- Mastering these techniques requires specific training. Work with a professional to confirm your ability to perform these techniques safely and independently before attempting them unsupervised.
- We provide examples of techniques related to your activity. There may be others that we do not describe here.
The skate block technique enables rapid intervention while minimizing the number of operations to do at height.
With REEVE, the system can be pre-installed for even greater efficiency.
WARNING: this technique is very specific to certain situations because it only allows for a short horizontal travel distance: for example in a tower rescue, the victim’s path only needs to avoid the metal girders and other obstacles of the lower part of the tower.
1. One rescuer accesses the victim with a pre-rigged system
Take care with the rope length used, which must be at least twice the distance between the lower anchor and the top of the tower.
2. Connecting the system above the victim
For good efficiency, the system must be anchored well above the victim, so that after tensioning the rope the REEVE will be positioned directly above the victim, without contacting the pulley.
For maximum simplicity in attaching the system:
Drop-resistant solution which enables direct attachment with a carabiner, or slinging a suitable structure.
3. The ground team tensions the rope
Simple tension because the goal is not to raise the victim, but only to take the stretch out of the rope so that the JAG SYSTEM can be used effectively to unhook the victim.
4. The rescuer unhooks the victim with the JAG SYSTEM
Hauling with the JAG SYSTEM should allow slackening of the lanyard on which the victim is suspended, to be able to unhook them.
5. The ground team controls the descent
WARNING: this technique is not a tensioned highline rescue where the victim follows the path of the tensioned rope.
Here, the low tension in the rope allows the victim to be slightly distanced from the tower: enough to avoid the obstacles near the base of the structure, but not enough to reach the ground anchor.
Variations
To use a second rope as a backup.
To have a second attachment between the victim and the system.
