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John R. Peleaux 719-783-3530 Introduction This paper explores several ways to potentially improve rigging efficiency. The ideas presented are simply options available to be used if they fit within your individual style and situations. Many of the following techniques negate the need for as much knot tying or mechanical advantage theory. It is highly recommended that the amount of background training remain the same, while using the advantages of pre rigging during a real call. Prerigged systems can:
Seconds saved during rigging can add up quickly into valuable minutes when a patient is hanging on by their fingernails or trapped in a confined space. Unfortunately, many of the people that may use rope rescue techniques currently do not have the time, or money to become proficient in the skills required for an efficient response. An annoying human trait is our tendency to forget things if they are not practiced often. A common example when learning knots is to become proficient one day, and completely forget them the next. Most of these rescuers can safely fix a problem after it occurs (hopefully before any injuries), the hard part is in rigging it correctly the first time. By being aware of our human frailties while working under pressure, we can actually prepare ourselves to make fewer errors when placed in adrenaline pumping situations. We will discuss ways to package our hardware where knot tying and rigging time are minimal. Often overlooked are available management tools such as checklists and logs, that assist leaders in remembering critical steps or items. While many of these idea's may seem very basic and simple in nature, the resulting time saved during a real call may add up to quite a difference in the quality of patient care. A missing factor Our brains have the amazing ability to turn into mindless mush with the shot of adrenaline one can receive during a real rescue call. Though I have seen people be the sharpest they have ever been while working under such pressure, emotion tends to kick logic and training out the cerebral door. By acknowledging our normal human traits of fumbling and forgetfulness while working under pressure, we can take steps to engineer the weak spots out of an emergency response. There is a growing segment of designated emergency response personnel that have never experienced the humility of working with a full load of adrenaline coursing through their veins. It can completely negate all things learned in a classroom and field training just when you need them the most. Industrial in-house rescue teams for example, may be made up of from 6 - 12 volunteer mechanics, welders and electricians that may get to work a few training scenario's per year. Training time never seems to be adequate, and most of that may be spent in a classroom. There is a huge gap between theory and reality when trying to rig or locate anything in an adrenaline hyper-space. Fire fighters, ambulance crews, and police are very familiar with techniques that allow them to work effectively under pressure. We can learn from their examples of evolved readiness techniques. Efficient packaging is a very basic part of these professional's jobs. Fire fighters prepackage their bunker pants over their boots for a fast hop and thrash into the gear. No time is lost searching for a left boot! Ambulance crews have efficient medical kits prepackaged where everything required is in a logical, memorized location. Pre-rigging and prepackaging So you've prerigged a 4:1 mechanical advantage system and pre-tied knots at the ends of your ropes. Please be cautious of a false sense of security that may place less importance in double checking your prerigged systems and continued basic skills training. Every situation that requires rescue skills is so varied, that modifications in equipment use and techniques are the norm. Improvisation is an art form in itself, and takes time to build an experience background. Many rescuers oppose prerigged systems, believing that it reduces the flexibility required in each unique situation. Most of these fortunate people have had the time, training and skills to rig these same systems quickly and efficiently. There is plenty of room for personal and team preferences. Use the available tools if you believe they help you and your patient. The following are a few ideas that may get your own creative juices going. Prerigged Mechanical Advantage (MA) Commonly prerigged are 3:1 "Z-rig's", or 4:1 double pulley, simple mechanical advantage systems. Pulleys are reaved with rope of unique color and may be stored drawn together above the rope in a marked bag. Carabiners, load release hitches (LRH), mariner hitches, and rope grabs for a ratchet can be added. Diagrams of the system can be drawn on the storage bag or attached tag for fast reference. They can be used directly between an anchor and the subject, or can be added as a separate haul system connected to a main haul line via a rope grab. One of the least expensive arrangements uses two basic double rescue pulleys for a 4:1 system. A good alternative is the RSI type 4:1, a double sheave device with the built in ratchet cam, using an additional double pulley, and a section of rope. Some folks like to prerig a rope with a prusik minding pulley (PMP) and tandem prusiks for a belay system. An additional pulley and rope grab are rigged ahead of the tandem prusik's to enable a 3:1 haul system. The Rollgliss system (and copies) out on the market are pricey, but attractive to many as a prerigged MA device. They use a small diameter line that can be hard to grip. Some systems are sold with a handled ascender for a rope grab. They can be used as a hand hold, or may be attached via a sling to a foot, allowing your leg to do most of the lifting work in vertical applications. Getting the end of a prerigged MA system down to a patient in a vertical extrication is simpler when the two pulleys are separated or expanded on the surface. Another effective method uses the weight of a rescuer or several steel carabiners to expand the system. Lighting: Until you are thrown into a situation where you must function efficiently in the dark, this basic item is sometimes overlooked. Even when lighting is included in the team or personal equipment, storage for an extended amount of time reeks havoc on batteries. Batteries should be checked on a regular basis. Consider protecting the batteries in the lights with a contact barrier. Extra bulbs should be considered with the mandatory extra batteries. If you might work in a situation where the use of two hands are handy, consider head lamps or other hands free mounts. Flashlights held in the mouth foster bad communications, unplanned dental bills, and do not work well with SCBA face pieces. Consider rigging loops on hand held lights to facilitate connection to your harness or equipment sling. If dropped, it becomes a potential headache for both you and people below. Medical gear: This equipment should be dropped proofed if it will be above the ground. No one intends to drop anything of course, but the patient loses if the device is not available anymore, not to mention replacement expenses. Determine the strength quality of handles before using them as the attachment point. Litters: Straps and litter bridle/spider/harness elements can already be stored with the litter. All patient and rescuer lines can be prerigged to the bridle system. Back boards and C-collars can also be stored with the litter. Devices are available that incorporate stabilization equipment with harnesses for lifting. These items can reduce patient movement and rigging time dramatically. SKED users can leave ropes and slings used for vertical and horizontal extrication prerigged on the plastic litter. Remove the yellow slings if any dragging is required. The main problem with leaving the rigging on the SKED is the increased difficulty in rolling up the device for storage in its bag. Make sure to roll it up tight enough for easy removal without requiring the use of trauma shears applied to the storage bag. SKEDCO has larger storage bags available. Anchor slings: Different rescue types use different types of anchor slings. Mountain, cave, and water rescue folks love their anchor ropes and 1 inch tubular webbing where weight and tradition are factors. Industrial and fire rescue people love their beefy crane and 2" commercially made webbing slings where weight and bulk are not big factors. Many of these anchor slings can be prerigged for the "whip and clip" technique of anchor rigging. Pre tying loops of rope or webbing into endless slings that can be doubled around many anchors in a basket hitch may increase speed, and anchorage strength. Color coding different sling sizes may also help. Commercially made slings may be endless loops or configured with "eyes" or rings at each end. Edge padding or softeners can be prerigged onto these slings for even faster rigging. Old 1½ inch fire hose reaved over the slings work very well. Remember to inspect the sling material under the padding on a regular basis. Harnesses: I have watched people trying to put on their rescue harnesses next to cliff edges while hopping on one foot. Some harnesses come out of dusty storage so tangled that the rescue is over by the time at least one rescuer figures out how to put it on. What good is a rapid response if so much time can be wasted after your arrival? Prerigging can come into play here also. Some people store their harnesses neatly with the front ring on top. I have seen frustrated rescuers use masking tape to hold the sides of expanded leg loops to the sides of expanded waist belts, holding the leg loops open as a target for their feet. When the harness is tightened up, the masking tape falls apart. Several companies have sewn harnesses into clothing such as shorts and coveralls to make donning easier, but they never really made a fashion statement. A promising compromise used by Forest Safety Products uses a panel of spandex between the waist belt and leg loops to simplify the process. While application is as simple as donning a pair of shorts, they can add a bit of heat retention in warm temperatures. Trying to apply a regular harness onto an uncooperative patient while minimizing their movement has always been difficult. Keeping them upright in a climbing type harness usually requires the addition of a chest harness. You may consider a special patient harness including upper torso support that clips together. These harnesses negate the time and hazard spent trussing the patient into a homemade, sometimes unproven, harness. Rope: People have definite opinions regarding pretied, pretensioned knots being on their rescue ropes. Plastic thimble eyes can reduce wear point arguments. Even if your team trains so often that everyone ties perfect knots quickly, you may consider pretied knots just for additional speed. Many teams prerig carabiners on these knots also. They should still be a part of the system double check. Industrial rope rescue teams are generally trying to get away from knot tying whenever they can. There are several rope suppliers that handle rope that have swaged rope ends incorporating thimble eyes. This type of termination can retain 90% of the rope strength. One mine rescue team made up a rope bag with a removable divider. Since they typically deploy two ropes at a time for most of their systems, they put two different colored ropes side by side in the same bag. If you are considering using tandem prusiks, color code the different lengths for quick pairing. Having different color rope in different bags, or color coded lengths helps to keep rope separate. Hardware Storage: Many rope rescue team members store a quantity of equipment in personal equipment bags. These bags come in many shapes and sizes, some more efficient for equipment access than others. I have watched too many equipment search sessions where a rescuer goes from bag to bag "burrowing" for a desired item. The goal should be for a system that allows easy inventory and access. Some teams "rack" hardware such as carabiners, pulleys, rope grabs, etc. to a gear sling like rock climbers do, and simply pull the gear sling out of a bag. The most commonly used equipment is ready to sling over a shoulder or hang in front of the team for easy access. Some teams lay out most of the hardware onto tarps where all items can be seen. If it is not convenient, we will usually not use it. Storage of team gear takes on many possibilities. Some things to look for:
There are many prerigged and prepackaged systems available on the market. Beware of systems labeled "complete". They may not address major missing components such as anchors, harnesses, or personal protective equipment. One advertisement for a complete confined space rescue kit includes 5 minutes of air! A great advantage of several of the technical rope rescue kits is the built in organization and storage they provide. Software: (Paperwork) Often overlooked are available management tools such as checklists and logs, that assist leaders in remembering critical steps or items.
Remote connection: One on one rescue techniques are common in many types of rope rescue fields. A rescuer accesses the patient to do required rigging and patient care. Examples:
A common point taught in each of these situations is to connect the patient to the rescuer's system as soon as possible. This negates most damaged equipment of the patient's, and helps in securing them to a trusted system. By using a system that accomplishes a connection remotely, rappelling or other means to access patients may not be required. This can result in simplified rigging (faster, fewer mistakes), and fewer rescuers at risk. The basic idea of remote connection has been around since rope, branches, or hooks were thrown to people trapped in water, ice, caves, and cliffs. A device used in water rescues for remote connection uses a carabiner held open by a clamp attached to a paddle blade for an extended reach. The rescue line is already attached to the opened carabiner. After hooking the carabiner onto the "target", the paddle is pulled back, releasing the clamp and closing the carabiner. A strong attachment point such as a harness ring is required for the system to work safely in vertical applications. This technique is being used by confined space rescue teams to rescue victims without entering the space themselves. Industrial rope rescue teams are using the same concept to rescue workers hanging from full body harnesses after a fall. They have replaced paddle blades with hot sticks, telescoping light bulb changer poles, and 1/2" stainless steel poles. The carabiner is held open temporarily with a small tensioned rubber band connected from the pole to the opened end of the carabiner gate. Many of them are using auto-lock or twist-lock carabiners to apply a locking carabiner remotely. Disconnection from the subject's gear (after remote connection of the rescue line) can be accomplished with basic fall protection or belay techniques used to access the subject's anchorage. Remote cutting of the victim's system could also be done at the end of a pole, but many rope rescue people have a deep fear of adrenaline pumped rescuers wildly waving sharp edges around loaded rope. Conclusion: Rope rescue teams seem to follow a general cyclical pattern in their development. Everything is new at the start, habits begin to form based upon instructor backgrounds and personal opinions. After the basics are absorbed, wild uncommonly used systems such as highlines and pendulums are explored. Eventually, the team has accumulated a vast array of equipment, with its storage and transport problems. The experience begins to show when the team begins to explore ways to become more efficient. They become able to do more with less equipment. Prerigging is just one more simplification tool that allows us to provide faster patient care with less mistakes. Why not jump forward a few steps?
John Peleaux - Innovative Access, Inc. 719-783-3530 Innovative.access@juno.com - www.innovative-access.com |
