IRATA-certified rope access technicians for inspection, survey, and technical work at height — providing safe, efficient access to elevated structures, offshore platforms, vessel exteriors, chimneys, bridges, and access-restricted locations without the mobilisation time, cost, and footprint of scaffolding or elevated work platforms.
Industrial rope access is a method
of working at height using a personal suspension system — two independently
anchored ropes, a working line and a safety line — that allows a technician to
position themselves precisely at any point on a structure, hold position with
both hands free, and perform skilled technical work. The technique originated
in mountaineering but has been developed into a rigorous industrial access
discipline governed by the IRATA International Code of Practice and enforced
through a tiered certification system (IRATA Levels 1, 2, and 3).
Rope access is not simply a
cheaper alternative to scaffolding. For the right structures — elevated
vessels, flare stacks, offshore jackets, chimney stacks, bridge decks, and
structural elements at height — it is a technically superior access method: faster
to mobilise, smaller in footprint, adaptable to complex geometry, and capable
of accessing specific locations that scaffolding cannot practically reach.
Where scaffolding requires the structure to support access infrastructure, rope
access uses the structure itself as the anchor point — enabling inspection and
technical work at locations that conventional access methods cannot reach at
all.
Every rope access technician
deployed by Altair Engineering Inspection holds current IRATA certification at
the level appropriate for the role they are performing. IRATA Level 3
supervisors are present on all rope access operations as required by the IRATA
Code of Practice — ensuring that every deployment is planned, risk-assessed,
and executed to the standard that the access method demands.
•
Offshore platform and
jacket structural inspection — welds, connections, and coating condition at
height and in splash zone
•
Flare stack and chimney
stack external inspection and thickness gauging
•
Storage tank external shell
and roof inspection — upper courses and roof structure
•
Bridge and viaduct
structural inspection — deck soffits, piers, and support structures
•
Wind turbine tower external
inspection and maintenance
•
Building facade and
cladding inspection — high-rise industrial and commercial structures
•
Cooling tower shell and
internal structure inspection
•
Suspended and elevated
pipeline inspection — bridge crossings, jetty piping, elevated rack sections
•
IRATA International — Code
of Practice for Industrial Rope Access — the governing standard for rope access
technique, equipment, personnel certification, and site management
•
IRATA TACS — Technical and
Competency Standard — certification requirements for Levels 1, 2, and 3
•
SPRAT — Society of
Professional Rope Access Technicians — alternative certification framework
recognised in certain markets
•
EN 363 — Personal fall
protection equipment — Systems for fall arrest
•
EN 341 / EN 1891 — Rope
access equipment — Descenders and low-stretch kernmantle ropes
•
MOM WSH (Work at Heights)
Regulations (Singapore) — applicable to all work at height operations
•
Client and site-specific
work at height procedures, permit-to-work requirements, and safety management
system requirements