When it comes to rope rescue, one issue that seems to arise frequently involves the use of conditional versus unconditional belays.

Just to review, a belay is a safety line that will catch the rescuer or patient if the mainline fails. An unconditional belay will catch the load without any action being taken by the person operating the belay (the belayer). A conditional belay requires the belayer to take some action (e.g., pull, wrap, or tighten the belay rope) to catch the load.

So is there that much a difference between these two?  I think so.

Several years ago I attended a rescue competition and watched a team set up a system that used a Rescue Eight (or Figure Eight) to create a conditional belay. When the rescuer placed his weight on the mainline, the safety checks had not been completed. When the system was loaded the mainline operator was assisting the belayer in checking the belay system and no one had a hold of the belay line or the mainline.

It all happened so quickly there was not even time to yell stop. Fortunately, the belayer was able to grab the rope and apply the pressure needed to arrest the fall. At that moment I realized that if teams trained to perform at a high level can make this mistake, then it can happen to anyone; at least anyone who uses a conditional belay. This is why D2000 has adopted the practice of only instructing teams to set up unconditional belays. Sometimes we say that the system has to pass the “Roswell Test.” This means that if, in the middle of a rescue, all the persons operating the rope system were suddenly beamed up to a UFO (or chased away by a cloud of chemicals or a swarm of bees) the patient would simply hang there until the rescuers returned.  

The two types of unconditional belays that we use heavily in training are the tandem prusik and the Traverse 540 belay. A self-retracting lifeline (SRL) also makes a great belay device. Sometimes these systems may take a few more minutes to set up than a Rescue 8, but you should always remember that when it comes to rescue, it’s not how fast you get to your patient but how efficient you are at getting your patient out.

Remember that efficient is defined as: “The ability to function without waste, capable of achieving the desired result with the minimum use of resources, time, and effort.” When a rescuer’s or patient’s safety is compromised by the use of a conditional belay, then your team’s efficiency will suffer.

Although often unseen, Cold War relics can be found throughout the country. One example can be found about twenty miles south of Tucson, Arizona at the Titan Missile Museum. Contained within eight-foot thick blast walls, the main silo, tunnels and vaults house both an actual Titan II missile and its associated launch infrastructure.

The result of all this is, “a great place to provide advanced training to industrial rescue teams,” according to Greg Arbizo, Lead Rescue Instructor. “There are a wide range of scenarios we can set up in the tunnels, silo and vaults.” And since it is deep underground, students don’t have to deal with the desert heat.

For the last couple of years D2000 has been holding four-day Industrial Rescue Team Leader training sessions at this facility. Along with advanced rope rescue techniques, students learn how to provide initial and refresher training to members of their rescue teams. This, in turn, helps ensure that their teams will be able to provide the confined space, fall protection and elevated area rescue capabilities at their facilities.

In addition to three days of hands-on skill-building, students receive a complete set of course materials including student packets and a copy of the same Leader’s Guide and PowerPoint presentation that D2000 instructors use.

More information can be found here, or at our website.

Pat Rhodes, D2000 Safety Technical Rescue Instructor, is a 28-Year veteran of the Phoenix Fire Department and a USAR Lead Instructor at Michigan State University. He brings a lot of experience to D2000’s offerings. We decided to interview him to find out more about his upcoming “Managing the Rescue Incident.”

Is the class “Managing the Rescue Incident” designed for one specific institution?

No, it can be used for industries, but is mainly designed for Fire Departments, and there are prerequisites.

Which Are?

The students must have at least basic operation or technician level skills as defined by NFPA 1670. This is not a class for someone with no training.

What are the NFPA 1670 Requirements?

There is the Awareness Level, which is the ability to support technical rescue situations. Next is the Operations Level where they can apply limited techniques and use equipment and provide standard support for search and rescue incidents. The last level is the Technician level, which focuses on advanced techniques and supervision of the technical search and rescue.

If you would like more information about “Managing the Rescue Incident,” you can find it on our Course Description.

Are you at elevated risk for heat stress?  During these dog days, heat stress can be a big problem.  Heat causes our bodies to undergo physical changes such as changes in our circulation.  More blood flows to the skin and less flows to the kidneys and other organs. Also, heart-rate increases to maintain adequate blood pressure. 

In addition to PPE use, exertion, time of day, and humidity, other factors that can increase your chances of a heat disorder include:

• Old age
• Lack of sleep
• Obesity
• Previous heatstroke
• Excessive alcohol ingestion (the previous day which causes dehydration).

Symptoms can include headache, nausea, dizziness, irritability, pain, fatigue, or confusion.

A basic safety rule is if you start to feel uncomfortable or stressed, take a break and rehydrate, preferably in the shade.

Remember that staying calm and cool is better than ending up in the hospital.

We’re often asked if our safety and rescue classes are ‘certified by OSHA’ or if you take a class will you be ‘certified’?

I usually respond by saying that if you complete the class you’ll receive a certificate and you’ll be awarded continuing education units (CEUs). But will that make you ‘certified’ in the normal sense of the word? Not really.

But when it comes to most types of safety or rescue training, the only entity that can certify someone as a competent person, a confined space entrant, a forklist operator, or a member of a rescue team is the employer. They are the ones who make sure you have been trained properly, have the right equipment and they are the ones who develop and enforce the company policies.

In addition, much of our training is site-specific, which means that we train to an employers specific work environments and procedures. Another employer may have a completely different set of hazards and control procedures that they need  their workers trained to. So receiving training in one work environment doesn’t mean that you’re competent in all work environments.

So with the exception of First Aid/CPR, HAZWOPER and a few other topics, there really aren’t independent agencies that run around and stamp a seal of approval on people who complete certain safety and rescue classes. And this is how it should be.

The way I look at it is, if OSHA shows up and you’re doing everything right, they don’t care if you have a wallet card or wall certificate that says you’ve been trained. And if you’re doing everything wrong, again, it doesn’t matter what classes you’ve taken. The point is that it’s always the employer’s responsibility to make sure that people are doing the job the right way, which means that they are following best practices, common sense and their location’s policies and procedures.

As training professionals, we help employers achieve these goals.