Up, up aloft

[Anchorite]

Sure: we mustn't fall overboard about this safety thing. Well, not without
a lifejacket (or one of those yellow things). But why use a ladder for this
operation? That must be multiplying the risks. What's wrong with a bosun's
chair?
Nacelle = cherry picker (pardon my french)

 

[vyv_cox]

Which is where I came in. A bosun's chair is much more sensible than a ladder. It's just getting up there that needs a little thinking about and planning. But something that all owners should do.

I've never seen a cherry picker in a boat yard. Many Dutch yards have an old mobile crane "converted" to static, with a cage suspended from the hook for working aloft. This seems a particularly neat and safe concept for a professional.

 

[Grehan]

Hmmm

Well, thanks folks.
I didn't expect quite so much from a fairly small question!

At the risk of provoking more . .

a) I don't actually have a bosun's chair (yes, I know) and - at this point - I'm a great deal more confident of my ladder climbing activities, than attempting something new-ish in new circumstances, solo. I've got a reasonable head for heights and I've climbed many long ladders in my time (architect, you see). I think that's the safer way - for me anyway. I had already thought carefully about centrelines, CoGs and firmly lashing it.

b) Completely concur with Bedouin's real-life sentiments about not telling the boatyard. And Vyv's message concerning dangerous flipcharts just about seals it. I don't intend to take unecessary risks and I am most assuredly not a dare-devil, but life is just chocked full of both 'optional' and 'necessary' risks.

c) The boats are so tightly packed that a cherry picker wouldn't get near. Besides which, from experience I find them more disconcerting than a properly fixed ladder. Think of dear old Fred Dibnah gaily ascending bloomin great chimneys, vertically.

I'm in the phonebooth. It's the one across the Hall

 

[vyv_cox]

Re: Hmmm

That sums it up nicely, I think.

On a practical note, I have used a ladder for jobs up to the spreaders. But it is quite difficult to get it to lie against the mast without trying to slide from side to side. Maybe you could knock up some sort of cradle to attach to the two uprights (there must be a word for these but I can't think what it is. Not the rungs, the other bits)

 

[vyv_cox]

By coincidence....

this was in my Inbox this morning. Seems to support my views in earlier posts.

90th Thomas Hawksley Memorial Lecture
Wednesday 11th December 2002, IMechE Headquarters, London
RISK IN ENGINEERING: is it such a bad thing?
"The paper seeks to take a different view from conventional notions of risk avoidance. A culture has grown up, largely fuelled by Health & Safety concerns, which regards risks as synonymous with sin. Yet the history of engineering shows a healthy appreciation of the benefits of risk through the process of enlightened learning. And situations inevitably occur in engineering, where one risk has to be balanced against another and quantitative analysis is unavoidable."

"The paper examines different categories of risk, distinguishing Health & Safety matters from contract risks and "option" risk analysis. The place of risk in engineering design and management is examined and the role of insurance considered. The paper is illustrated by recent issues which have arisen in relation to the rail industry as well as other professions, including the contribution of legal precedents."