KD Access - IRATA Personnel, Membership & Standards

IRATA Trained Personnel

KD Access work at heights strictly within the guidelines issued by IRATA. Our access technicians are certified with qualification recognised by industrial governing bodies and through experience, have gained extensive knowledge of access and rescue systems.

IRATA Membership

Some of our senior technicians are individually members of IRATA.

IRATA Standards & Training

IRATA technicians make progress through three Levels of proficiency with certification issued at each level. Working at height or in locations presenting difficult or confined access requires great skill and such standards can only be achieved as a result of extensive training and regular refresher courses. IRATA training is provided by skilled trainers in centres that are also members of the Association. This training gives our personnel individual abilities to deliver rope access services to the highest possible standards.

IRATA Unique Two-Rope System

IRATA's unique two-rope system enables our technicians to operate in the safest possible conditions since one of his ropes is only ever used as a safety back-up. In the unlikely event that the working rope is damaged or fails, the technician has a second rope to ensure his safety. IRATA trained personnel rigorously record the incident statistics of their operations and supply this data to the Association. This data is then independently audited and then openly published. In fifteen years of collating these reports IRATA has recorded zero deaths on a rope caused by inadequate training or poor operational skills; its "reportable incident" rate reduces year-on-year and is currently less than four per 100.000 hours worked. This is unrivalled in the industries in which IRATA operates and is a fundamental reason for the remarkable, ongoing growth in the Association. Safe working at heights is more effective; it represents real added value!

IRATA Comments for publication:

'IRATA International is proud to be able to issue such a positive report at a time when workplace safety is of such concern to us all. For 20 years IRATA has trained its technicians diligently and enabled skills to be carried on to site that have become internationally recognised and admired. Once again we have demonstrated that industrial rope access is a safe procedure and have done this in a year when the hours worked have increased at an unprecedented rate.'

'With IRATA now operating globally, including in countries where safe working at height regimes have not been commonplace, it is reassuring to have this independent report so thoroughly vindicate our high standards of training and operational work. In every continent the simple use of our rope access procedures to undertake work at height and in areas of difficult access has not only brought good practice to new markets but has also greatly reduced risk and delivered pride and professionalism where this has previously been in short supply.'

'When you are responsible for maintaining and testing the great iconic structures of the world and in the same breath undertake key cleaning work in retail centres, shopping malls, High Streets and industrial complexes, it is vital to have fundamental rules and work practices that again deliver the performance illustrated here. Multi-nationals, utilities, councils, FM companies, site managers, designers and architects are finding rope access to be a true, long-term work solution. Our high standards are for hire!'

'Where there may have been doubt – why ropes in the 21st century? – now we see not only certainty but confidence and a desire to maximise the advantages that rope access brings. Delivering the prized 'minimal environmental footprint' as well as safe working at height demonstrates the benefits but IRATA rope access is also remarkably flexible and can solve all manner of height and access issues, as ever-increasing numbers of businesses are discovering.'