Product Recall DMM Compact Swivel Units

Dang! It took a year to get mine in the first place and I actually use it all the time. I wonder how long it will take to get a replacement?
 
@Tom Dunlap
This needs a sticky. I was using these as my primary life support connections, and my head is spinning right now. I am shaking and freaking out. I'm out on disability- non work related- and had reconfigured my saddle while I was just sitting around with time to think about things. I removed the swivel from my rope bridge and added a second bridge; I'll be clipping directly around both bridges, adding some redundancy for good measure. I have been thinking about aiming to generally reduce moving parts in my system to a minimum, and this is majorly validating.
 
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Matias said:
@Tom Dunlap
This needs a sticky. I was using these as my primary life support connections, and my hand is spinning right now. I am shaking and freaking out. I'm out on disability- non work related- and had reconfigured my saddle while I was just sitting around with time to think about things. I removed the swivel from my rope bridge and added a second bridge; I'll be clipping directly around both bridges, adding some redundancy for good measure. I have been thinking about aiming to generally reduce moving parts in my system to a minimum, and this is majorly validating.
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I wouldn't freak out until we get some more information about what actually happened. A sticky seems like a good idea though!
 
I mean, a swivel parted and DMM determined that there was indeed a sufficiently significant defect traceable to manufacturing. They're literally recalling the entire lineup, as it's a common element to the whole system, and they seem to be doing this as a result of a single incident. This will be an expensive booboo for DMM. You can't be second guessing any piece of gear, and we routinely trust our lives to a single connection point. For me this awakening is also a lot about that. I have always thought that it sounds ideal to have two separate life supporting climbing systems in place for every climb. I know this is mandatory in at least some European countries, but my boss would lose his mind if he saw me taking the kind of time it takes to set up like that.
 
Matias said:
I mean, a swivel parted and DMM determined that there was indeed a sufficiently significant defect traceable to manufacturing. They're literally recalling the entire lineup, as it's a common element to the whole system, and they seem to be doing this as a result of a single incident. This will be an expensive booboo for DMM. You can't be second guessing any piece of gear, and we routinely trust our lives to a single connection point. For me this awakening is also a lot about that. I have always thought that it sounds ideal to have two separate life supporting climbing systems in place for every climb. I know this is mandatory in at least some European countries, but my boss would lose his mind if he saw me taking the kind of time it takes to set up like that.
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Yea I would be concerned especially since it appears to be a design flaw in the swivel itself not a random manufacturing flaw. The other issue with having 2 life support systems is often going to be where would you set them up? Most of the time if I have any slight concern it's more the tree than my climbing systems and I can only really get 1 working point.
 
Vicente said:
Yea I would be concerned especially since it appears to be a design flaw in the swivel itself not a random manufacturing flaw. The other issue with having 2 life support systems is often going to be where would you set them up? Most of the time if I have any slight concern it's more the tree than my climbing systems and I can only really get 1 working point.
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I hear that; I climb dead trees. I do all kinds of things I don't think are good ideas, but my boss is still doing the very same after doing it that way for 50 years. I need documented experience on the books now, so I put up with it for a few reasons I would rather not include in this thread, but pm me if you really gotta know.
 
Text from the Facebook post accompanying the photos:

I wanted to share an incident I had last week. This is not an attempt to talk badly about gear or manufacturers so please keep it civil. My only reason for this post is for the safety of my fellow tree people!
I was climbing SRT using a DMM Director SBB locksafe with an Akimbo on a treemotion harness. I was a couple of hours into pruning the tree. I needed to pass my system out of a redirect. I secured myself with my lanyard and proceeded to unweight my system, unclip from my akimbo, pass the akimbo around the branch and reconnected back to the DMM director. Then, before disconnecting my lanyard, I performed a load test of my system and immediately fell back off the branch i was on, thankfully into my lanyard.
The DMM Director completely separated at its swivel point. I bought and installed the Director last December on my harness and that is where it has been since.
I am in contact with DMM and they have the device. They are investigating what may of happened. They are on top of it.
My two big take aways from this incident:
1) Always load test your system!!!
2) Inspect your gear!!!
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Matias said:
I have always thought that it sounds ideal to have two separate life supporting climbing systems in place for every climb. I know this is mandatory in at least some European countries, but my boss would lose his mind if he saw me taking the kind of time it takes to set up like that.
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Spend some time practicing and you might find its faster than you think. Two tie in points can be secured with a single throw. Toss over two ideal limbs, double bag between the two and pull a rope up on each end of the throwline.


Of course the growth of the tree and what you want to do with that second climbing system will play a part in how it's setup.
 
Gauging from the (what looks like) wear on the shackle that device has been in service for some time now….. swivel devices for life support have always given me a mild unease. Edit: just read that this device has less than a year of service on it…..
 
Njdelaney said:
This is exactly the one I have on my bridge. I'd been using it as a dedicated lanyard attachment on the left lower D of my S. Light and just recently switched to using it on the bridge with my HHX because it is nice and short. It looks like it just unscrewed if I'm seeing this right?
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It does seem like some kind of design flaw if that can happen by any means at all. It's seen less than a year of use, and while the groove there indicates some good hours of working time.... I have been swapping out more and more of my aluminum for steel. This just further pushes me that way. I am young and have never struggled to get used to the extra weight when I have had to, just like learning how to do everything with gloves on, or how to communicate with hearing protection.
 
Thanks for the pics and copy of the incident info above. I'm opted out of Facebook/ most social media generally, so am not privy to any of this content. Great to have it on TreeBuzz. Again thanks to DMM and Honey Brothers in the UK for heads up to me (customer list?).
 
ghostice said:
Thanks for the pics and copy of the incident info above. I'm opted out of Facebook/ most social media generally, so am not privy to any of this content. Great to have it on TreeBuzz. Again thanks to DMM and Honey Brothers in the UK for heads up to me (customer list?).
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Yea, whoever you bought your swivel from. I got an email from WesSpur.
 
Aerial Traveler said:
This pattern of failure is not inspiring confidence in DMM swivel hardware. Very concerning. I think this information is going to influence my future hardware purchases.
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In my case it actually gives me more confidence in DMM - anything manufactured can be a point of possible failure. The ability to identify serial numbers/ batches affected and respond to issues with recalls/ replacement in timely fashion is a mark of an exceptional supplier - i.e. not Chinesium or counterfeit parts. One reason I would buy DMM is that I know they followup (EU/ UK Standards). Would like to know failure cause eventually but the QC/ record keeping mechanisms they have in place look like they work. They do have six sigma etc in place I believe for testing/QC I'd think.
 
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I saw the video and read the description on Facebook. I have one of the swivels never really liked it for life support. As I like to keep systems simple as possible, I just threw it on a petzl basic to use as a 3:1.. Works great there..
Links in the chain, the more links the more things can go sideways... It's a fine balance between what is helpful, needed, and more of a luxury. I love gadgets and aids but I keep my primaries simple.
 
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