RYA instrumental in new trapeze harness safety standard
by Ellie Williamson, RYA 19 Jun 2009 16:39 BST
12 June 2009
Since ISAF stated four years ago in the last edition of its racing rules that all trapeze harness must be quick release, there has been much work in the technical world to enable the publishing last week (Friday 12 June) of a new safety standard for quick release systems, to help reduce the number of entrapment incidents.
Having a good relationship with ISO and expert technical knowledge, the RYA’s technical team was tasked by ISAF to draft a new standard which they would then guide through ISO’s approval process.
Drawing on industry and expert knowledge as well as existing standards for similar equipment, the draft standard was developed to trouble shoot issues like the need for full rotation release of trapeze hooks and simple problems such as sand getting into the mechanism when launching from a beach.
RYA Technical Manager Ken Kershaw explains; “A lot of work has gone into this standard to ensure the issues uncovered in recent entrapment cases have been fully addressed. We also looked at other release systems used in kitesurfing, mountaineering and deck safety harnesses and pooled all the information together to ensure we approached it from all angles.”
As trapeze harnesses are categorised as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), much like lifejackets, harnesses complying with the standard will now sport a CE mark.
“Manufactures are now bound by law to abide by the standard, meaning that any trapeze harness with a quick release system on the market must now comply and show the CE mark. This is great news as manufactures now know what criteria they need to work towards to produced safer harnesses” Ken commented.
He concluded; “The RYA has led this project and we have been working tirelessly on it for over four years. The publishing of this standard worldwide is testament to the credibility of the RYA’s work internationally and a massive success for us and all sailors who use trapezes.”