Near Miss Today

2 primaries and a backup whatever works to prevent this

Done the same more than once, intentionally on occasion.
Steve I consider you one of the good one of the best. See about a change. Sons and daughters and all
 
southsoundtree said:
Glad you're in one piece.



Besides always weighting one system before disconnecting the other. I always force myself, and train people I teach to Look, Listen, and Feel my new connection. I've been wearing a bulky jacket, lately and it's been a hassle to L, L and F, but boringly secure. A shirt can easily get inside the gate, and the biner will hold, even when not closed.
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The importance of the look part cannot be overemphasized. A true life saver.
 
Yessir, anything done for long enough or enough times tends to become an auto-pilot task. I drive a couple hours most days but how much am I actually thinking about driving? Not much at all.

Mindfulness is a wonderful goal, and a cliche at this point, but difficult to put into practice. A few minutes in the shower and I'm wondering if I already washed my hair? I can't remember...

Couple of years ago I had taken my Runner off to switch a basal to a canopy anchor, and I was half a second away from unclipping my lanyard, before I realized two things: a. I hadn't weighted the new anchor to test it, and b. I had clipped my system into the retrieval leg, and it would have failed once weighted. I was that close to taking a 50ft fall onto the sidewalk. Was a wake up call to be deliberate, mindful, and present, three things being easier said than done...
 
rico said:
The importance of the look part cannot be overemphasized. A true life saver.
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My mentor/teacher was trained as a pole climber be the Bell System. One very important part of their regimen was to see each snap connection not just hear it. I kept that going when I started uding biners. I’d See to make sure the autolock closed.

When I got my first Carry Clip I snapped my lanyard biner to the plastic CC then looked at it. !!! When I got to the ground I moved it well away from hip drings
 
Steve Connally said:
Had a pretty eye opening near miss today. Climbing on a crane job today. After rigging up the pick I had set a higher tie in point with my line for better body positioning during the cut. Made the cut and climbed up to my tie in to wait for the hook to return. The limbs were lateral so I needed to ride the hook to get a good. position on the slings. The wind was blowing and the ball kept moving away from me due to the wind drag on the slings. I reached out and hooked an arm through a sling eye to keep the ball close and disconnected my climbing line from the tree and moved the tie in onto the crane. Got all connected and tested my system. Everything checked out so I reached down to unclip my lanyard and it was stowed on my harness. I never clipped in. I always clip in if i'm not moving, ALWAYS. Out of tens of thousands of hours on rope I've never failed to lanyard in, ever. If one single detail of this had changed, if I had sat back into my lanyard, if I hadn't hooked a crane sling with my left arm.........about 60/70' up with some things to bounce off on the way down. Be aware of your complacency. I recognize I hardly climb anymore. I also recognize the headspace I've been in for a few months. The weather was beautiful and I was having a fantastic day, enjoying conversation. I guess it wasn't my day. Just remember some things seem like they are muscle memory and you don't even have to think about them..........maybe you should. I know I'll be thinking about that lanyard for a while and especially every time I transition from anchor to re-anchor. I don't really have a description of the emotion I'm feeling. I guess "taken back" would be it. I'm not frightened, scared, sad, mad, glad, or anxious or anything. I guess It's just wow. Take care of yourselves. I think my family woulda been fairly disappointed if I hadn't come home today. Stay awake out there. 25 years in this industry and still making mistakes. You never outgrown the potential for 1 bad choice or missed detail.
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Howdy all, Here's some comments.
First off, thanks for the climbing lesson. This scary description seems to accurately portray what actually occurred. Most recounting of how a climb went leaves out something, making the account unclear, with questions about the incident. I'm so glad that this post is not about an accident. This post did not leave out much, it was complete, so we can understand what you went thru, Steve. What a realization it must have been to suddenly being surprised that you were unclipped, and so terribly exposed to catastrophe!
Second: Imagine if we flash forward 5 or even 10 years, to the same incident happening in the future.
At this remote time, of course, the government will have permeated every phase of our climbing lives. 2 ropes will be required to secure the climber to the tree, from the time we leave the ground. These safety & procedure protocols will have become firmly ensconsed in our routines while aloft. Imagine that the safety regulations will have become so firmly ingrained in a whole new batch of young climbers, that they wouldn't dream of ever being unattached to a secure anchor point. They will have been trained to eliminate any gaps in their climbing routines that could lead to an accident.
Imagine also, that those newfangled little scan codes that are now being imprinted on new carabiners, pulleys and other devices will have RF functions. That is, they will wirelessly transmit not only their condition, but their function to some sort of artificially intelligent receiver that sits in the dashboard of the crane or chip truck.
Imagine that this data is copied to the government inspectors with OSHA or Health & Safety compliance.
Imagine the climbers performance evaluation is not updated every year, or every six months, or only after a safety breach incident that results in an insurance claim, but in real time.
Big Brother is watching!
 
Oxman said:
Imagine that this data is copied to the government inspectors with OSHA or Health & Safety compliance.
Imagine the climbers performance evaluation is not updated every year, or every six months, or only after a safety breach incident that results in an insurance claim, but in real time.
Big Brother is watching!
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Imagine in the future every climber equipped with mandatory giant CE certified backpack airbags that in the event of rapid acceleration deploy into a kind of an avalanche airbag cocoon . . .
Imagine government drones watching every climber/ climbing move to make sure there is total safety at all times (reminds me of a French mountain writer Anne Sauvy who wrote a short story about climbers in the future getting "off route" or onto a route they hadn't paid for or been licensed for, and getting fined on the spot). Gotta hate those government drones . . .

Anne Sauvy:
The Game of Mountain and Chance
Les Flammes de Pierre: Short Stories About Mountains and Mountaineers


Steve, oh Steve, wherever has this thread gone . . . . :)
 
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You crane guys do amazing work!

1150491_679062105473147_2005722370_o.jpg
 
I like the "Swiss cheese" analogy. Think of the different layers of protection as slices of Swiss cheese. A layer of protection might be doing a visual inspection of your attachments. It's not 100% effective, as you might forget to look at one or you do look and it doesn't register that something is wrong - the layer of protection has holes, like Swiss cheese. Now add another layer of protection, like doing a tactile check. It's not 100% effective either. But with a stack of 2 slices of Swiss cheese, there's less chance of a clear hole through both slices, a hole being potential for an accident. The more layers of protection you add (load test, mental checklist, etc.), the less likely it is to have a clear hole through your stack of Swiss cheese slices.

If only there was some American cheese.
 
Oxman said:
Howdy all, Here's some comments.
First off, thanks for the climbing lesson. This scary description seems to accurately portray what actually occurred. Most recounting of how a climb went leaves out something, making the account unclear, with questions about the incident. I'm so glad that this post is not about an accident. This post did not leave out much, it was complete, so we can understand what you went thru, Steve. What a realization it must have been to suddenly being surprised that you were unclipped, and so terribly exposed to catastrophe!
Second: Imagine if we flash forward 5 or even 10 years, to the same incident happening in the future.
At this remote time, of course, the government will have permeated every phase of our climbing lives. 2 ropes will be required to secure the climber to the tree, from the time we leave the ground. These safety & procedure protocols will have become firmly ensconsed in our routines while aloft. Imagine that the safety regulations will have become so firmly ingrained in a whole new batch of young climbers, that they wouldn't dream of ever being unattached to a secure anchor point. They will have been trained to eliminate any gaps in their climbing routines that could lead to an accident.
Imagine also, that those newfangled little scan codes that are now being imprinted on new carabiners, pulleys and other devices will have RF functions. That is, they will wirelessly transmit not only their condition, but their function to some sort of artificially intelligent receiver that sits in the dashboard of the crane or chip truck.
Imagine that this data is copied to the government inspectors with OSHA or Health & Safety compliance.
Imagine the climbers performance evaluation is not updated every year, or every six months, or only after a safety breach incident that results in an insurance claim, but in real time.
Big Brother is watching!
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To be safe I think we all might wanna start wearing tin foil hats at work. Certainly couldn’t hurt?
 
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i started using a second short srt system while doing cranework á la lawrence schultz and while its not really about having two tips all the time it might have helped with those incidents, maybe not. it definitly upped production while making my work smoother (safer?)

 
Thanks everyone. My system broke down. First time in 25 years it's happened. I have a solid reputation of how I manage those situations that have been fail safe up until that day. I use a system of checks and balances that work effortless for me but require a check and recheck on each component. Works awesome and I'm not likely to change it since it has been repeated for so many years. For whatever reason I just didn't do any of it. I didn't miss a step, I just omitted the process. This was the biggest eyeopener. I'm caught stuff on the recheck before and thats why I recheck. This time I. just never even initiated the process. This to me is the scary part. I appreciated everyones input and comments. Appreciate you PEEPS.
 
Steve Connally said:
Thanks everyone. My system broke down. First time in 25 years it's happened. I have a solid reputation of how I manage those situations that have been fail safe up until that day. I use a system of checks and balances that work effortless for me but require a check and recheck on each component. Works awesome and I'm not likely to change it since it has been repeated for so many years. For whatever reason I just didn't do any of it. I didn't miss a step, I just omitted the process. This was the biggest eyeopener. I'm caught stuff on the recheck before and thats why I recheck. This time I. just never even initiated the process. This to me is the scary part. I appreciated everyones input and comments. Appreciate you PEEPS.
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Happy to hear you made it safe though your situation!
We all are human double checks sometimes times aren’t enough so triple might be the next best option
 
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