Industrial rope access work at height: IRATA training and strict work guidelines
This domain tests whether you can run a rope access job to the IRATA International Code of Practice (ICOP), not merely descend a rope. Expect questions on the hierarchy of control, the two-rope system, rigging decisions, and the supervisory duties that separate a Level 3 from a Level 2.
Hierarchy and the Level 3 role
Rope access is a mitigation, never a first choice. Work at height is avoided where possible; if it cannot be avoided, collective prevention (guardrails, platforms, MEWPs) is preferred; rope access is used where it is safer or more practicable than the alternatives, and only with a rescue capability already in place. The Level 3 is the supervising technician: works to the method statement and risk assessment, selects and rigs anchors, sets exclusion zones, briefs the team, checks equipment, and must be able to rescue a casualty from any point of the system.
The two-rope system
Each technician is on a working line and an independent back-up line, separately anchored, with a backup device on the harness that follows the descent and can pass knots and deviations. Edges get rope protection. Deviations are kept shallow because the load on the deviation anchor rises steeply with the angle. A re-anchor is different: the rope is tied off and the system re-rigged.
Worked example: a 40 m tower has a flange 15 m down that blocks the rope path. Reasoning: fit a deviation to the working line only, from a verified anchor, keeping the angle small; the back-up needs its own protection so it cannot be dragged across the flange; then confirm the rescue plan still works - can a casualty be lowered past the deviation? If not, re-rig.
Traps: clipping both ropes to one anchor; treating deviation and re-anchor as synonyms; leaving the rescue plan unrevised after a rigging change; assuming Level 3 is just a better climber rather than the person accountable for supervision.