Uniline Safety Systems

Tower safety, turbine safety and rescue

Extensive research with some of the world’s leading wind turbine manufacturers into the specific needs for vertical ascent and descent inside the tower of a wind turbine, combined with thorough product testing and assessment, has enabled Uniline to produce the safest vertical climbing systems in the market for tower safety. No other product in the tower safety market today exceeds the performance of Uniline’s EasyClimber Systems.

Aluminium ladders, which are extensively used in wind turbines, are significantly weaker than steel and therefore fall protection systems that are attached to them must effectively and reliably control fall energy to prevent damage to or failure of the ladder structure.

EasyClimber systems’ patented energy absorber uses unique Force Management® load control technology, reducing forces in the system in the event of a fall to less than 4kN, leaving it undamaged and ready to carry out a rescue. The energy absorbers are re-settable and therefore reduce the cost of ownership.

Climbers must scale heights of up to 120m and so it is extremely important that the tower safety system offers good functionality during ascent and descent.

The EasyClimber cable system is fixed to the structure at regular intervals using cable guides, allowing the user to pass over them without any need for manual intervention and leaving them free to concentrate on climbing without the problem of the attachment device snagging or having to remove the cable and re-insert it in to holding sleeves. This increases efficiency and user safety.

Climbing takes place in a unique environment and climbing techniques have been proven to override safety locking mechanisms in some manufacturers’ attachment devices. This has previously resulted in death and serious injury.

Uniline has worked closely with manufacturers and operators of wind turbines to understand how climbers use safety systems and developed the Monkey® attachment device which addresses all of the known situations that occur whilst climbing, working and resting in the tower of a wind turbine. The Monkey has been extensively tested using dummies and a range of safety harnesses to provide the maximum possible protection for maintenance workers and engineers (test reports are available on request.)

When entering the tower of the turbine, maintenance personnel need to see easily that the safety system is ready for use.

Each tower safety system is supplied with a tensioning unit that maintains a pre-set cable tension and provides a visual indicator to the user at ground level. If the visual indicator is showing, the system is correctly set for use.

Tower safety systems must be quick to install so that turbine installation and operating schedules are not unnecessarily interrupted.

Uniline has developed an effective tower safety installation tool kit, which takes into consideration the confined operating environment whilst increasing installation efficiency. This kit on top of the system’s excellent design ensures fast and simple installations.