Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1996 - 24

cends the ladder and reaches a secure poin until rescued. The plan for rescue in the event of a fall
sition on the truss, he or she clips the
from the truss is to immediately lower the truss and recarabiner on the webbing end of the lanStagehands...
move the stagehand when the truss nears the deck. The
yard onto the hOlizontal lifeline. Only then
elapsed time to rescue a fallen stagehand is about five
is it safe to reach behind and unfasten the
minutes, the time it takes to lower the truss.
tendto work
snaphook connection of the retractable
lifeline. (Remember, OSHA requires a fall
GETTING USED TO FALL PROTECTION
faste1; with
protection system to be continuol/s.) Attached to the horizontal line, the rigger
Steve Strickland, the head lighting tech for Bandit Lightmore confidence
traverses the truss by either walking the
ing who has been on tlle R.E.M. tour from tlle beginning
lower web on one side of the truss or by
was initially annoyed at being required to wear tlle fullandmore
spidering along on hands and knees across
body harness and to stay hooked into the fall protection
the top of the truss. Both of these methods
system all the time. After all, he'd never had to do tllis beof traversing keep the harness attachment
fore and he had never taken a fall. But now, Strickland
concentration to
below the horizontal lifeline, an important
doesn't want to work \\~thout continuous fall protection.
factor in keeping the worker's total fall disHe is quick to add that one of the things that convinced
the job at hand
tance to a minimum. Truss spot operators
him was that one of his crew slipped when almost to the
traverse the truss to their spot chairs,
top the 40-foot wire rope ladder and was caught by the
buckle their seat belts and then finally
retractable lifeline. ninjured, tlle worker was able to retransfer their lanyard from the lifeline to the truss.
gain the ladder and rescue llimself.
This fall protection system is designed to
Chris Schmidt, assistant ligger for tlle R.E.M. tour, also says that he was a reaccomodate only one person at a time.
luctant convert to tlle benefits of truss fall protection systems. Stage Rigging Inc.,
When a fall occurs: No falls have ever
Schmidt's employer, has required wearing a full-body harness and hooking into a
occured on the horizontal lifeline portion of this
fall protection system for several years. Chris becanle a believer when he heard of a
truss fall protection system, but tests ,,~th dummy
falling stagehand actually being caught by a retractable lifeline, and (unfortunately)
weights have shown what can be expected. The
heard stories of falls not being caught. Anotller benefit of using fall protection is,
stagehand free-falls until the slack comes out of the
according to Schmidt, tllat once stagehands get used to wearing harnesses and
lanyard. The free-fall distance \\@ valY depending
mo~ng around while hooked into a fall protection system, they tend to work faster,
on how much slack is in the lanyard, or more prewitll more confidence and more concentration on the job at hand.
cisely, how close the dorsal D-ring on the full-body
harness is to the horizontal lifeline-a standing
LIMITATIONS AND REFINEMENTS
worker will experience a longer free-fall than one
who is sitting or lying on the truss. After the free-fall,
Retractable Lifeline: Finding a retractable lifeline with enough spring tenwhich is only about three feet, tlle several composion to keep the line taught has been an ongoing problem for Stage Rigging Inc.,
nents of tlle fall protection system begin to decelel~
designers of the R.E.M. lighting truss fall protection system. Part of tllis problem is
ate the falling stagehand and eventually bring him or
tllat the retractable lifeline must attach to tlle end of tlle shock absorber on the lanher to a stop. As downward force is applied to the
yard instead of directly to the dorsal D-ring of tlle harness. (The shock absorber is
horizontal lifeline it deflects downward, or sags. A
actually required for the horizontal component of tl1e total fall protection system,
small portion of this deflection is due to elongation
but needs to be attached to the harness while ascending, and so becomes part of
of tlle line and taking up any slack. The major porthe retractable lifeline component as well.) The weight of tlle shock absorber,
tion of tlle deflection is the result of the inward
which the lifeline was not originally designed to pick up, causes the shock absorber
movement of the attachment points at the chain
to lay down along the workers back ratl1er tlum remaining lifted vertically above the
motors and the ripping open of the in-line shock
dorsal O-ring. This creates a lillie bit of slack in the retractable Lifeline, which,
absorbers. All these actions absorb the force of the
again, it wasn't designed to accomodate. However, since the shock absorber \\~1I
falling worker. As the system arrests the worker's
keep tlle arrest force to less than 900 Ibs., far below the force levels that would
fall, he or she will be jerked into a basically upright
cause the retractable lifeline to fail, this is primarily an annoyance.
position and the force of tlle fall ,,~1I be communiHorizontal Lifeline: The height of the lifeline above the Lighting truss when
cated plimarily to tlle thighs and butt tlll'ough tlle
it is connected from motor hook to motor hook can ValY depending on the length
straps of tlle harness. The deceleration distance to
of the roundslings between the motor hook and tlle truss. On tlle R.E.M. rig, the
full stop is about IOta 12 feet after the I:myard takes
ideal lifeline height of around six feet above tlle truss-about head-high-is acup snug on tlle lifeline and tllen there is an initial
complished by adding three-foot steel slings between the motor hook alld the pear
rebound of about 8 feet. After arrest, the stagehand
ring at each chain motor supporting the truss. This sLx-foot lifeline height locates
\\~1I be left suspended in an upright position several
the lanyard allachment above the back hal'ness attachment (Limiting free-fall disfeet below tlle truss, a position he or she \\~1I remain
tance) and keeps tlle lifeline out of the way of the worker as he or she moves about
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1996