There are a number of vital pieces of kit that we need to ensure the safety and protection of our team while conducing rope access services.
The actual ropes used in rope access are vitally important to what we do. But we use more than one type of rope so to explain the difference, here is a look in more detail at Dynamic Ropes.

There are four types of Dynamic Rope:

Single
Commonly used for top rope climbing with no abseiling descent.

Half
Used in double rope techniques where abseiling descents are required and are a popular choice for mountaineering and ice climbing.

Twin
A lot less common now thanks to developments in Low Weight Half Ropes but have been used in traditional climbing and mountaineering.

Mountain Walking
These ropes are not suitable for rope access work or climbing.

Dynamic Ropes are a specially constructed rope with an elastic property. This elastic stretch property is what gives this type of rope its name. They allow the absorption of energy such as a climbers fall to lower the peak force on the rope. Nylon is the most common material used for dynamic ropes are are generally between 8.3mm and 11.5mm in diameter. One advantage of dynamic ropes over low stretch ropes is that because of their size, they are lighter and have less rope drag while allowing them to run more smoothly through belays. One disadvantage they have however is that they have less strength than thicker ropes and will only sustain a number of ‘hard falls’. Ropes must be able to sustain at least 5 such falls before breaking (a rope that can sustain more than 9 falls is called a multi fall rope). A hard fall is defined as anything >10-15 metres.

Dynamic Ropes have to be EN892 which is the standards used for Mountaineering equipment and because of their specialist characteristics, are used for specialist at height work including:

To ensure safety, we inspect ropes for cuts, abrasions and frayed areas.

What exactly is Rope Access?

Rope Access is a safe method of working at height using rope systems and related equipment. It is the exact same type of climbing equipment used in mountaineering, rock climbing and abseiling. Because it can be used almost anywhere with little in the way of set up requirements, the uses for Rope Access are near limitless. It has become one of our signature services for customers who require difficult access cleaning, repairs and inspection work carried out.

Find out more

If you would like to know more about our Rope Access Services and the many benefits they have over traditional forms of access including scaffolding, please contact us. We can talk you through the process of using rope access and share case study examples of the work we have done in this field before. At Balmore, we are one of the leading Building Maintenance and Roofing Contractors in Scotland and Rope Access is one of our specialist services that allows us to become Difficult Access Experts. Please contact our Glasgow Head Office today by calling 0141 944 6100 or by emailing sales@balmore-ltd.co.uk