SafetyLink CombiRail to the rescue! In order to mitigate a potential fall risk, our Installations team customised and retro-fitted a rigid rail system to the inside of a steep-angled, extendable and collapsable stairway on a mobile asphalt plant hopper that was regularly used by workers for inspection and maintenance purposes.
The Goal: Safe use of stairway for regular inspections and maintenance
As part of meeting their workplace health and safety obligations, our New South Wales client wanted to ensure workers would remain safe from any potential fall risks while using an existing steep stairway system that provided access to the top of a tall mobile asphalt plant hopper. This was a high priority given that workers regularly use the stairway to inspect the hopper’s operations and complete maintenance tasks.
The Brief: Customise and retro-fit a fall arrest solution to existing stairway system
The mobile asphalt plant hopper included an integrated stairway system that could be extended to provide access to the top of the hopper. The stairway already had handrails and guardrails installed on either side and at the top and bottom, which was great for helping to prevent falls off the stairway.
However, there were no safety barriers along the stairway itself to interrupt any potential falls. So, if a worker were to slip or trip, they could potentially fall from the top of the stairway all the way to the base. This presented a serious fall risk. Our job was to mitigate this risk by retro-fitting a fall arrest solution along the length of the stairway. The solution would need to meet some key criteria:
| Must work on a steep 55 degree angle | Solution must be sufficiently adaptable | Solution must be robust and durable |
| When fully extended, the stairway is at a 55 degree incline. This is a very steep angle for climbing up and down stairs. It’s also too steep for many height safety solutions (such as static lines, which typically cannot be installed above a 15 degree angle) | The mobile plant hopper moves from site to site. Whenever this happens, the stairway needs to be collapsed for transport, then reset and re-extended once it’s been relocated. Any solution added to the stairway system needs to be adaptable enough to accommodate this | Continuous exposure of the mobile plant hopper to harsh environmental conditions (particularly adverse weather such as rain, hail and wind) means that any proposed solution needed to be strong and built with robust and durable materials |
The Solution: A customised version of the new CombiRail System from SafetyLink
SafetyLink’s new CombiRail System is a modular rigid rail system that can be customised for use across horizontal, vertical and inclined surfaces to suit a variety of different structures. It meets Australian Standard for rigid rail systems (AS/NZS 1891.2) and International Standards for anchorage devices designed for use in fall arrest systems (Standards EN 795; CEN/TS 16415). Most importantly for our purposes, it can accommodate an incline angle of up to 90 degrees.
The SafetyLink CombiRail System includes a variety of different components which can be put together in a bespoke fashion to suit the installation site. A raised installation of continuously connected aluminium rails (coupled with end stops) formed the backbone of our design, which ran from the base to the top section of the stairway.
This end-to-end continuous rail system is convenient and user friendly as it prevents users having to disconnect and reconnect when bypassing intermediate anchor points or system sections. Its compact, low-profile design also reduces any potential trip hazards to the user when in-use.
Riding the top of rail system is a mobile Combi Shuttle. By connecting to this shuttle (typically via a fixed length or adjustable lanyard to minimise any slack and fall distance) the user can stay constantly attached to the rail system, all the way up and down the stairway. In the event of a fall, a rapid clamping system on the shuttle will immediately break to arrest the fall and minimise fall distance.
The Outcome: A user-friend system that provides a high level of safety
- Our client now has a seamlessly integrated fall arrest solution that will minimise fall risks for any workers using the stairway to access the top of the mobile plant hopper
- Workers can connect to this rigid rail system with minimal height safety equipment (ie via a fixed length or adjustable lanyard connected to their fall arrest harness)
- Workers can complete their regular inspection and maintenance tasks with a high level of safety
- This permanently installed rigid rail system can stay in situ (ie attached to the stairway system) whenever the mobile plant hopper is collapsed and relocated to another site
- Our client has provided a safer working environment and met work health and safety requirements