ropes care

8/14/2019 Ropes care

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WHYDOI NEEDTOFILLOUTTHISLOGBOOKEVERYTIMEI USEA

ROPE?

The following has been put together from current British Mountaineering Council (BMC)guidelines and outlines implications for both Imperial College Union (ICU) Outdoor Club and itsmembers who use club ropes.

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Current British Mountaineering Council (BMC) guidelines for where a rope pool ismaintained, such as in a climbing club, say.

detailed logs of (rope) use should be maintained, all ropesshould be individually identified and checks should be made afterevery period of use for external or internal damage and the logsheet annotated

(Quoted from BMC Technical eries! "opes, #$$%)

&' duty of care eists between clubs and their members. Clubsshould ensure that rope users, i.e. its members, familiarisethemseles with good practice, such as logging the use of ropes,and be aware of rope degradation mechanisms*

(Compiled from BMC Technical eries! "opes, #$$%)

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+ien this C- utdoor Club should! inform all club members of the information contained in this document

ensure all usage of club ropes is documented.

permanently display notices in club store rooms detailing when a rope should beretired, disposed of and/or ta0en out of serice.

The utdoor Club 0eeps a uni1ue log boo0 for each rope. These are 0ept on the roperac0s in stores with the releant ropes. "ope use forms should always accompany arope i.e. when a rope is signed out a rope use form must be ta0en with the rope. Theform should be filled out by the user and returned with the rope. The information

from a rope use form should then be written up in the releant rope use log boo0,which is 0ept in the club store.

Meanwhile members hae a duty of care to other members to ensure theyunderstand and familiarise themseles with the information displayed on notices instores and adhere to them. Members should follow standard operating proceduresregarding rope use, which include logging rope use and minimising rope degradationwhere eer possible e.g. using rope bags when transporting ropes.

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The BMC says

In any environment where a duty of care exists, a demonstrably

competent individual should be responsible for monitoring ropeuse. his person need not be a recognised !technical expert" suchas a suitably #ualified mountain instructor or guide, they can be

$ust an experienced climber with comparable expertise. hisperson need not be responsible for the routine checking of ropesbut should oversee and approve of the systems in place fore#uipment monitoring.

(2rom BMC Technical eries! "opes, #$$%)

The utdoor Club interprets this as follows

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ROPE?

3 the day to day chec0ing of ropes should be done by the user and is therefore theclub members responsibility. This should be documented by logging the rope use.

3 eperienced climbers with comparable epertise are responsible for the routinechec0ing of ropes (recommended at least once a term) determining when a ropeshould be downgraded or retired.

3 club e1uipment officers are responsible for ensuring e1uipment monitoring isproperly and thoroughly underta0en. 41uipment officers should do this byoerseeing and approing the systems in place for monitoring e1uipment.

I#,O*M&TIO#

Below is some basic information regarding rope management which the utdoor Clubbeliees all members should familiarise themseles with. Their is no definitie answeron when a rope should be retired or how long a rope should last as there are toomany ariables for such a simplistic answer. The following has therefore been puttogether to assist in ma0ing such as decision.

Independent of fre-uenc of use/ a rope should be disposed of 0 retired if

The rope comes in contact with chemicals, particularly acids.

The sheath is damaged and the core is isible.

The sheath is etremely worn, or particularly fu55y.

The sheath has slipped noticeably.

trong deformations are present (stiffness, nic0s, sponginess).

The rope has been sub6ected to etreme loads (e.g. heay falls, clearly oer fallfactor #).

The rope is etremely dirty (grease, oil, tar).

7eat, abrasion or friction burns hae caused damage.

The following table gies reference alues for a ropes approimate lifespan gien#O#!of the aboe hae occurred!

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8eer -sed #9 years maimum"arely -sed! twice per year -p to : yearsccasionally -sed! once per month -p to ; years"egularly -sed! seeral times per month -p to < years2re1uently -sed! eery wee0 -p to # yearConstantly -sed! almost daily =ess than # year

The aboe information has been compiled from the Mammut rope information boo0let.nline athttp!//www.mammut.ch/mammut/uploaded2iles/seilfibel>9


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ROPE?

2or specific information pertaining to the recommended lifespan of ropes see theBMC Care Maintenance +uide the BMC "ope boo0let together with themanufacturers instructions, 0ept in the filing cabinet.

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ropes care

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