Safety on board

We were doing a few jobs in King Malu today prior to lift out on Monday morning. One of the things was to replace a mast step that was broken. Being as we are now the regional representative for Kaya Safety, we were of course using their safety kit: Fall arrest harness, Safety Helmet, Red Rope Grab and Work positioning lanyard.

Firstly the fall arrest harness is very much more comfortable than our previous harness, which was safe, but didn't give the support this does. Secondly the work positioning lanyard meant that when I was at the right place on the mast I could secure myself to the mast which meant that I could push with the battery drill easily without me moving away from the mast as I pushed. In the past I had to use one hand on the drill and one hand on the mast holding on. This was way easier.

Thirdly the rope grab... that is a really clever device that allows you to be attached to a second safety line (as you should) and your assistant is only managing the main line not both at the same time. This is much safer. Basically the 'rope grab' is a device that allows you to be attached to a separate static rope up the mast. As you climb you move it up with you. If you fall, it grabs the rope and stops you falling. The device is triangular and if you move it so that the triangle is pointing sideways not upwards then you can move downwards. This sounds complicated but in fact is very easy to to.

So with all that safety stuff you will be surprised to find I had an accident. I was using a long arm rivet gun, something like this one. The arms are longer than the distance I was from the mast. I was using the work positioning lanyard remember... so when I closed the arms, with gusto, the arms hit my face, pushing my glasses into my cheek with such force it cut my cheek.

So other than blood on the deck it was a good job well done!