SWP - Rope Rescue Systems Rigging and Inspection

Building, checking, operating, taking down and inspecting rope systems that carry a person: lowering and raising at any angle, litter operations, pick-offs, confined space and trench vertical lifts, water and ice tethers and belays, and edge tie-in during any of them. It applies at incidents, in training and in the equipment inspection cycle. This procedure is also {{Department}}’s rope access code of practice for the purposes of the applicable fall protection and rope access rules, in jurisdictions that call for one (J16 Fall Protection and Rope Access): it states the equipment standards accepted, the anchor rule, the two-rope rule, the edge rule, inspection, training and supervision, and the rescue of a suspended member.

• Anchor failure; a single rope or hardware failure with no belay; a belay that was not locked or was let go.
• Rope cut or abraded over an unprotected edge; rope damaged by heat, chemicals or impact; recreational hardware with unknown history.
• Falls from the edge while rigging; swing falls; dropped equipment on people below.
• Rigging errors under time pressure from skill fade (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-4); mis-assembled mechanical advantage; cross-loaded or tri-loaded carabiners; progress capture missing on a raise.
• Suspension trauma for a stranded or injured person on rope; crush and pinch at devices and pulleys.
• Helicopter hazards if an aircraft is involved: static discharge, rotor wash, unplanned attachment.

1. Elimination. Walk the patient out or use a ladder or an aerial where that serves as well; do not rig where a size-up says the edge or the anchors cannot be made safe.
2. Substitution. Class G equipment for every two-person and litter load; a lower rather than a raise where terrain allows; a pre-rigged kit rather than a system built from loose parts.
3. Engineering. Life safety rope and hardware to the NFPA requirements with certificates on file (NFPA 2500, 2022, ch. 24 to 28); rated or bombproof anchors (the minimum strength the applicable regulation sets, or engineered; J16 Fall Protection and Rope Access); edge protection; belay devices proven for the department’s maximum rescue load; descent control with a panic function where the manufacturer provides one.
4. Administrative. Two independent systems for every live load; the whistle test by a second trained person; standard commands; a rescue group supervisor and, at technician operations, an incident safety officer (NFPA 1550, 2024); the quarterly drill cycle; logs for every item (Rope Rescue Program sections 5.5 to 5.8).
5. PPE. Technical rescue helmet, gloves, eye protection (NFPA 1950, 2025); class II or III rescue harness or a CSA Z259.10 harness (CSA Z259.10:18) where the applicable regulation accepts it; travel restraint for everyone near the edge.

The department’s standard rope kit per responding station: two class G ropes of the kit length, belay device, descent control device, pulleys, prusiks or rope grabs, rigging plates, locking carabiners, anchor straps and webbing, edge protection, litter with bridle and attendant tether, pick-off strap, a tagline; harnesses, helmets, gloves and eye protection for the team; radio on the rescue group supervisor, the edge attendant and the litter attendant; the pre-rig and pre-lower checklist (Rope Rescue Program section 17.2); Form - Rope and Rescue Equipment Log.

A rescue group supervisor; a rigger for the main line and a rigger for the belay, both qualified to the rope rescue job performance requirements at operations level or above (NFPA 1006, 2021, ch. 5); a belayer who does nothing else; an edge attendant; a litter attendant where a litter is used; a haul team for a raise. Every person in the system holds the department’s annual competency check and has not missed two consecutive quarterly drills; the second trained person for the whistle test is not the person who built the system.

1. Size up. Patient location and condition, the angle (low, steep, high), the edge, the drop, the terrain below, hazards (water, traffic, power, unstable ground), the load (one person, two persons, litter), the weather and light, the time the patient can wait. Choose lower or raise, the anchor sites and the edge site. Decision point: can the system be built with two independent anchors or one bombproof anchor and a protected edge? If not, change the site or the method.
2. Assign roles out loud: supervisor, main rigger, belay rigger, belayer, edge attendant, litter attendant, haul team; the ISO at technician operations.
3. Tie in near the edge. Everyone working within the department’s edge distance is in travel restraint to a rated anchor before approaching the edge; the edge attendant checks each person’s tie-in.
4. Build the anchors. Rated anchor points or bombproof structural anchors; where doubtful, back up and load-share; vehicle anchors chocked with keys removed; anchor straps and webbing inspected and logged; the anchor focal point positioned so the main and belay lines run clear of each other and the edge.
5. Build the main line. Class G rope; descent control device for a lower, or the mechanical advantage with a progress-capture device for a raise; knots dressed and set; carabiners locked and loaded on the spine; the weakest component identified and the static safety factor confirmed at or above the department’s minimum, commonly 10:1, for the load.
6. Build the belay on an independent anchor (or the single bombproof anchor) with a device proven to catch the two-person, 200 kg load hands-off; the belayer assigned and doing nothing else; the device locked whenever the load is stationary.
7. Protect the edge. Edge protection on every point the ropes touch; rollers or a roof roller where the load will be hauled; the edge attendant manages the ropes and the litter over the edge.
8. Rig the litter with a bridle and the attendant tethered to the system; the patient packaged and secured; a tagline where the litter could swing or snag.
9. Communicate. Standard commands agreed; radio channel assigned; hand signals for noise; the supervisor confirms every station is ready.
10. Whistle test. A second trained person walks the whole system from anchors to load and asks: if everyone let go at a whistle, would anything move or fail? Any “yes” is fixed before loading. Decision point: whistle test passed? If not, nothing is loaded.
11. Load slowly and watch: a soft load onto the main and belay with the belay locked; stop on any unexpected movement, sound or slip; then operate on the supervisor’s commands only.
12. Lower or raise with the belayer taking in or paying out in step with the main; no 1:1 raise without progress capture; haul team commands by the supervisor; the litter attendant reports from the load.
13. At the end, secure the load, unload the system in the reverse order, and release anchors last; retrieve edge protection; account for every item against the kit list.
14. Inspect and log every rope, harness, strap and piece of hardware used: post-use inspection by the user and the custodian; any impact load, abrasion, chemical, heat or water exposure recorded; doubtful items quarantined; retirement on the program’s criteria (Rope Rescue Program section 5.6); the log entries made before the kit is restowed (Form - Rope and Rescue Equipment Log).

Pre-use inspection (every item, every time, before step 5). Rope: full length by hand and eye for sheath cuts, glazing, flat or soft spots, core exposure, stiffness, contamination; label legible. Hardware: gate and lock function, cracks, deformation, corrosion, wear at the rope contact. Harness: webbing, stitching, hardware, label, fall indicator. Software: webbing and prusiks for glazing, cuts, burns. Anything doubtful is set aside, not used, and quarantined after the evolution.

• Main line failure: the belay holds; the belayer locks and calls; the supervisor stabilizes the load on the belay and rigs a replacement main before any movement.
• Stranded or incapacitated member or patient on rope: the pick-off and rescue of the rescuer the team drills; a second system built if needed; suspension relief steps deployed by the suspended member if trained and able; medical for every suspension.
• Anchor movement: stop; lock the belay; transfer to a backup anchor before continuing.
• Dropped equipment or rockfall: “Rock!” called; everyone below protected by position and helmets; the drop zone cleared.
• Helicopter on scene: awareness-level interface only unless the department has an operator agreement; nothing is attached to the aircraft except through the operator’s hoist or long-line under the aircrew’s control (Rope Rescue Program section 5.10).

Every evolution and incident: the pre-rig and pre-lower checklist completed; every item logged with use, load, exposure and inspection; the drill log or the incident report. Every rope response and full-scale evolution gets a Tier 1 AAR; any impact load on a live system, any anchor or belay failure, any rope cut or damaged in use and any near miss with potential for death goes to Tier 2 (Incident Investigation and Learning Program). Harnesses worn for firefighting or rescue get the post-use inspection by a competent person before reuse (J16 Fall Protection and Rope Access).

Operations and technician job performance requirements; quarterly drills; annual competency check; annual full-scale evolution; belayer catch check quarterly; custodian assessed annually. The Technical Rescue Program Improvement Team reviews this procedure every three years, after every event in section 8, on any new equipment or marking change, and whenever the applicable rope access or fall protection rules change; the JOHSC is consulted. Because this procedure is the rope access code of practice (Rope Rescue Program section 5.3), every revision is reported to the owner of Working at Heights and Fall Protection Program section 5.1, which relies on it.

Rope Rescue Program; Working at Heights and Fall Protection Program; Form - Rope and Rescue Equipment Log; SWP - Confined Space Entry and Rescue; SWP - Trench Rescue; SWP - Ice Rescue; SWP - Swiftwater Rescue; SWP - Mayday; Checklist - Confined Space, Trench and Rope Rescue.

This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it.

Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development [MLITSD]. (n.d.). Firefighter guidance notes (Section 21 Advisory Committee; individual notes revised to 2026). https://www.ontario.ca/document/firefighter-guidance-notes