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I finally saw a rope gripper fail in a way the manual never covered
Last week in a high rise downtown, a 15 year old unit had its safety gear trip during a test. The rope gripper held, but the steel rope jumped and got a nasty kink about three inches from the jaw. It didn't slip, but the rope was totally wrecked. The manual only talks about slippage, not this kind of damage from a bad jump. Has anyone else seen a gripper hold but still trash the rope?
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evan_burns956mo ago
Always figured a held gripper meant a safe rope, but that's a scary new failure mode.
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nguyen.tara6mo ago
The real problem is when a gripper gets worn down in one spot but looks fine from the top. Saw a rope where the core was totally chewed up under the sheath from being held in the same position on a fixed line for months. The sheath hid the damage until it was too late. Makes you rethink checking gear just by looking at it.
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adamrivera6mo ago
That point about the sheath hiding the damage is exactly right, @nguyen.tara. I had a similar scare with an old rope that felt stiff in one short section. I started pinching and bending it along the whole length, and you could feel a flat, crunchy spot where the core was gone even though the outside looked okay. Now I make a habit of running the rope through my hands like that, feeling for any change in texture or diameter. It takes a bit more time than just a visual check, but it catches what your eyes might miss.
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