Team Track Industry

[Mr Fixit]

What are the two cables for hanging at the two booms over the track?

The two cables are a part of the Fall Restraint System for the carhand working on the tops of the covered hoppers.

The carhand wears a harness arrangement similar to a parachute harness, which is attatched to the suspension wires via a lanyard [rope or seatbelt webbing type] with a lapped webbing shock absorber. The idea of the system is enable the operator to underatake physical works in a situation where exposed to the risk of a fall from height. If a person happens to fall then the lanyard stops the fall while the shock absorber cushions the shock of arresting the fall and the harness spreads the weight and maintains the person in an upright manner. The one proviso is that if a person is suspended in the harness following a fall then they must be gotten down within 20 minutes to prevent "toxic shock" from restricted bloodflow from the legs killing them when it re-enters the heart.

Co-incidentally I will be wearing a similar harness system and hooking on to a similar cable run when I go on to the roof of one of the school buildings today to clear the gutters of leaves and debris. I am thinking that I will take a number of photos which will help to explain the system.

Mark