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Window cleaner accident - Apple store sydney 26-Aug-2016 At 4:19:31 PM technogeekery

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I was doing a Safe Work at Heights course for work, and the instructor told us about this incident as a case study in "check your own anchors". Take this as anecdotal.

Rope access company was employed to clean windows of Apple building - as pavements below are very high pedestrian density (cnr George & King) they aimed to do this before morning rush hour. Head of the business (very experienced) was in charge, junior worker assisting. Method was abseiling down with kit, anchors being anchor slings wrapped around steel structure / pipe on roof. Junior tasked with setting up anchor slings. Junior has been taught that basket-hitching slings is strongest attachment method, so thats what he does. Boss is used to girth hitching slings, he prefers it for several reasons, and assumed that is what had been done. Its pre-dawn, dark. Boss clips ropes into one end of sling (other end presumably just not seen), doesn't test load it, and weights it over the edge, goes all the way to the ground. Glass bus shelter broke his fall, somehow survived.

Not much room for error in that line of work.