On Wed, 6 Jul 2011 15:09:44 +0100, michael adams wrote:

When you fall you should be be in fairly close proximity to the
scaffolding or the ladder. In fact its hard to visualise a situation
where this wouldn't apply. Given which you can grasp the
ladder or the scaffolding and release the rope.

Assuming that the ladder is still in position and not lying on the
ground.
Assuming that you haven't knocked yourself out hitting the ladder,
scaffold, wall, WHY, on the way down.

Being in a harness with no-one else about to help you get down should
you end up dangling in it is really rather risky.

In any case when attaching a rope to a harness it should first be run
around and through a karibiner and attached using a quick release
device rather than a knot. In the event of a fall this will allow the
user to easily release the rope and control the speed of the rope by
using the friction of the rope going through the Karibiner to
allow a slow descent.

That is good advice but does assume that the person is concious or
hasn't got a broken arm... It also requires the person to know how to
thread the rope through the karibiner and have the quick release
device etc.

--
Cheers
Dave.