In a message dated 97-04-06 00:07:55 EST, wf3h@mail.enter.net (wf3h) writes:
> OK...now that the decent wx is here in the northeast and antenna time is
> upon us, is there a method we should be looking at to care for our klein
> climbing belts? mine is about 25 yrs old, was inspected last yr by klein
> and passed wid flying colors...any recommendations? and is there a
lifetime
> to those critters? what about cold...what temperature is the lowest that
> one can reasonably expect the nylon belt to be flexible?
>
First of all, you should inspect your safety equipment each time before
you use it on a daily basis. OSHA requires it for commercial work so you
should take the hint also. With current nylon webbing materials, you're
looking for fraying, tears or other obvious weaknesses in it. If in doubt -
don't use it. Also check any hooks like the ones on your lanyards for proper
operation. Remember that only double action hooks are OSHA legal anymore.
Since leather is no longer a legal OSHA material, if you're using it
you should be DOUBLY careful. Leather dries out and cracks which leads to
lots of potential problems. Please replace any leather safety belts and
particularly lanyards that at this point are getting pretty old.
If you have a leather belt and it's been passed by the manufacturer,
it's pretty safe - I'd bet my life on it. They probably subject it to some
testing so that's a pretty good excercise. As far as temperature, they just
stiffen up and it really doesn't have any practical effect on anything.
Freezing up of the lanyard hooks is probably the biggest potential problem
but if you're up in that kind of wx, you've got some problems already.
As long as your equipment passes your daily inspections and meets the
basic requirements, you can keep on using it.
> thanks all...happy and safe climbing!
Yes, indeed.
73, Steve K7LXC
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