IRATA – INDUSTRIAL ROPE ACCESS TRADE ASSOCIATION

IRATA is the only global trade association for rope access. The working methods developed by IRATA are international standard for rope access work since more than 20 years. Within the international oil and gas industry IRATA is an absolute requirement to work with rope access offshore. Rope Access Sweden is the only company in Sweden that has succeeded in going through an IRATA accreditation process.

Characteristics for IRATA companies include the following:

• Tough entry requirements for member companies and demand that all staff working on ropes is IRATA certified
• Unprecedented quality of management at site, all site managers must have the highest certification possible (IRATA Level 3) that can only be achieved after more than 2000 hours on ropes over a minimum of two years.
• Working method with two independently attached ropes
• The certified rope access technician is tested and trained for a large number of specific rescue scenarios
• All equipment is inspected every 6 months and is logged with individual numbers
• Continuous external inspections and revisions of the member companies

IRATA today

IRATA was formed after a direct need from the oil industry to allow inspection and maintenance by means of rope access at oil platforms in the North Sea. During the past twenty years IRATA member companies have conducted projects at height and in confined spaces all over the world. The statistics show that the level of safety has been outstanding, not only compared to other methods for work at height but also compared to general manufacturing work.

Today IRATA accredited companies are engaged by clients all over the world to carry out all types of tasks at height and in confined spaces.

IRATA as an organization attaches great importance to rescue and evacuation exercises. This has been recognized by fire brigades and police forces all over the world that use rope access workers to assist in evacuations at hard-to-reach locations. One example is how the police force in London use a rope access company to safely evacuate people stuck in the big wheel London Eye.

For more information on IRATA go to www.irata.org