How Does High Angle Rescue Training Work?

1. How Does High Angle Rescue Training Work? High angle rescue involves a variety of highly technical rope rescue techniques for injured/incapacitated individuals on terrain at a 60-degree (or greater) slope. Some emergency situations require victims to be hoisted from one level to the next with the help of ropes, harnesses, pulleys, belay devices, and different hauling implements. These situations and use of these devices require proper ​high angle rescue training ​to ensure safety and success; otherwise, you might be putting rescue personnel, as well as victims, at a greater risk of injury or fatality in especially dangerous situations. Organizations that deal in risk-prone work require ​OSHA safety certification for these kinds of emergency rescues to remain compliant with workplace safety standards. In a high angle rescue situation, rescuers must set-up secure, on-site rigging systems for raising or lowering accident victims to the most optimum elevation in order to facilitate safe and effective extraction. This requires proper ​high angle rescue training and practice because different methods of building and using rigging systems can be extremely technical. In rope rescue, the priority is always to safely retrieve the injured and minimize further injury as they are being extracted from their dangerous predicament. High angle rescue services are most useful in locations like silos, tank farms, mills, vessels, wind farms, skyscrapers, elevated platforms, and below grade vessels, among others. Good planning is crucial in order to ensure effective rescue and emergency response should the need arise in these kinds of environments. High angle rope rescue presents many unique hazards. It requires special technical equipment that only trained rescuers can effectively and safely use. Ample pre-planning must be conducted, ​and work sites must be subject to a safety audit in order to create sensible rescue pre-plans and identify potential safety hazards along with contingency measures. This way, when the time for performing actual rescue occurs, rescue teams have fewer surprises to deal with because they are knowledgeable about facility conditions, including major equipment needs, hazards, good anchors for the rescue rig, typical atmospheric conditions, rally points, and routes of travel—all of which are critical in ensuring safe rescue. As your premier safety source for business and industry, Impact Safety Systems offers a wide range of services to help your organization protect your assets, reduce risks, and create and maintain a safe, highly compliant work environment through various ​OSHA safety certification​ and training opportunities and consultation services.