1/2" Minimum Rope Requirements??

COtreerat

COtreerat

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I have heard that 1/2" rope is now an industry standard requirement. If this is true per the new Ansi standard what is the reasoning?
 
"Arborist Climbing Ropes are required to have a minimum breaking strength of 5,400 lb (24 kN) when new, and should be no smaller than 1/2” (12.7mm) unless the employee has been trained in the use of smaller line (down to 7/16” / 10.5mm), and the line's working elongation should not exceed 7% at 540 lb load."
 
Shadowscape said:
"Arborist Climbing Ropes are required to have a minimum breaking strength of 5,400 lb (24 kN) when new, and should be no smaller than 1/2” (12.7mm) unless the employee has been trained in the use of smaller line (down to 7/16” / 10.5mm), and the line's working elongation should not exceed 7% at 540 lb load."
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With regards to standards and regulations, "should" generally means recommended, but not mandatory. "Shall" is used to indicate a mandatory requirement.
 
Personally given the fact that we are not climbing most of the time on "rated anchors" but on tree limbs way up there that put us closer to our maker, and that modern textiles have come a long, long way, and the safety factors involved, the rope diameter half inch or not is pretty low down on the totem pole on my list of things to worry about. I've always wondered about this section which seems to me to be kind of a hanger on from days of old when knights were bold . . . . or something (Blakes hitch days??). I asked about this in an arb course one time but no one knew how it arrived or if it's really still all that relevant in these days of mechanicals and whatnot. And in the EU, whole climbing systems already meet CE standards (Teufelbergers is one that comes to mind). So I've kinda mentally redacted this section, but that's just me. To each their own. Come to think of it, I have about 8 climbing ropes of various kinds and ages and lengths and don't think I even own a half inch line . . . My 2 cents this afternoon.
 
ghostice said:
Personally given the fact that we are not climbing most of the time on "rated anchors" but on tree limbs way up there that put us closer to our maker, and that modern textiles have come a long, long way, and the safety factors involved, the rope diameter half inch or not is pretty low down on the totem pole on my list of things to worry about. I've always wondered about this section which seems to me to be kind of a hanger on from days of old when knights were bold . . . . or something (Blakes hitch days??). I asked about this in an arb course one time but no one knew how it arrived or if it's really still all that relevant in these days of mechanicals and whatnot. And in the EU, whole climbing systems already meet CE standards (Teufelbergers is one that comes to mind). So I've kinda mentally redacted this section, but that's just me. To each their own. Come to think of it, I have about 8 climbing ropes of various kinds and ages and lengths and don't think I even own a half inch line . . . My 2 cents this afternoon.
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I definitely don't own a half inch climbing line my fattest is 11.5mm mostly I climb on 11mm though
 
Started out on a 1" 3 strand manilla rope. long time ago. Now 11.8 mm would be the largest climb line I have. I do like the 11.5 - 11.8 mm size, mainly because they run so well in the Zigzags. Although I have a lot of the 11 mm ropes, I find that I use them mainly to pull up my larger DRT rigs into the tree and then run the 11 mm rope through a Petzl Rig base anchor. The 11 mm ropes work well in the Rig, whereas the 11.8 ones are pushing the limits of the Rig. Why I do that is up for grabs since there is no one there to lower me down if I needed to be lowered most of the time. Just a habit I guess, and I have those base anchors made up that way.
Rarely I will do the same with a SRT setup, using the 11s to pull up a single 11.8 hunk of Scandere or DrenaLine, but my legs don't hold up to long SRT climbs anymore. I'm down to, slow and easy these days. Foot and knee ascender, and put my spurs on once I get where I'm going, if I need them. Tried the spur mounted foot ascenders. If that isn't a way to wreck a pair of boots I don't know what is.
 
For about 20 years I sat as a voting member of the Z133 committee. I take offense at comments about the participation level of members on the committee. Before you run off and dismiss the committee get out your copy of the Z…oh, you don’t own a copy?! Then pipe down. Look at the names of the committee. You’ll find most of them very involved in the profession. Find them at the comps. Find them at Day of Service.

The Z Commitee isn’t just populated by climbers.

In order to understand the history of the half inch climbing line in the Z you’d have to have been involved since NE Ropes introduced the first sub half inch arborist climbing line, The Fly. That was many years ago so I doubt that most current climbers were even born

I’m not inclined to do archival searches on Treebuzz but it’s been discussed before

Basically this annotation is there because there is OSHA standard language that affects line clearance arborists. This is a legit way of providing an ‘out’ to the rest of the profession

Attendance at the Z133 meetings is open to everyone. Discussion from non voting members is encouraged. Find out where the meeting is held and attend. You’ll find a big room full of caring professionals
 
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Tom Dunlap said:
For about 20 years I sat as a voting member of the Z133 committee. I take offense at comments about the participation level of members on the committee. Before you run off and dismiss the committee get out your copy of the Z…oh, you don’t own a copy?! Then pipe down. Look at the names of the committee. You’ll find most of them very involved in the profession. Find them at the comps. Find them at Day of Service.

The Z Commitee isn’t just populated by climbers.

In order to understand the history of the half inch climbing line in the Z you’d have to have been involved since NE Ropes introduced the first sub half inch arborist climbing line. That was many years ago so I doubt that most current climbers were even born

I’m not inclined to do archival searches on Treebuzz but it’s been discussed before

Basically this annotation is there because there is OSHA standard language that affects line clearance arborists. This is a legit way of providing an ‘out’ to the rest of the profession

Attendance at the Z133 meetings is open to everyone. Discussion from non voting members is encouraged. Find out where the meeting is held and attend. You’ll find a big room full of caring professionals
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Noted and I stand corrected. Thank you for clarifying. I meant no offense but therein lies the ignorance. I appreciate you taking the time to educate.
I would say the general attitude in the industry for those of us that are ignorant is that the people that make the silly rules have never worked a day in the trees in their life (I’m being facetious). That’s the discussion I’ve always heard. Now I know there are more Arborists who love their job that are quite involved. Maybe there is a presupposition as well, that if a Arborist was making the rules, they would be more aligned to what we think is sensible.
 
Boomslang said:
All arborists must be able to spell the word arborist.

<The industry collapses>
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If you want to split those hairs the term ‘Arborist’ is a misnomer or a common name (we all know common names carry no weight). It should be Arboriculturist for one that practices arboriculture, as we are not scientists just practitioners that use science.
But who gives a flying fuck
 
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