Skyriders deploys rope access for Carlton Centre winch inspection
Skyriders provided rope access for SALTS to carry out load testing on four winches in the food court area at Carlton Centre
The Carlton Centre is a 223-m-high, 50-storey skyscraper and shopping centre in downtown Johannesburg that is the second-tallest building in Africa after The Leonardo in Sandton, as well as being the tallest office building.
Towards the end of last year, South African Load Testing Services (SALTS) was tasked to carry out load testing on four winches in the food court area. However, the inaccessibility of the winches posed a major challenge, and subsequently the company partnered with rope-access specialist Skyriders to provide its expertise.
“Our main scope of work was essentially to access the winches in their hard-to-reach locations by means of rope access and then to connect the system required for SALTS to perform the load testing,” explains Skyriders Marketing Manager Mike Zinn. In addition, the two-person team also carried out a visual inspection of the structure, winch housings and auxiliary equipment.
“This was a great example of a company that has to perform scopes of work in quite a wide variety of areas. From a business perspective, it does not make sense to have their own fully-trained rope access technicians waiting to be deployed to sites where access is difficult,” explains Zinn.
Instead, Skyriders has both the necessary expertise and personnel to partner with such service providers to carry out inspection projects safely and effectively. “The key selling point here for rope access here is its efficiency, as opposed to taking unnecessary time to construct scaffolding in order to gain access,” highlights Zinn.
Another critical factor was that the Skyriders’ team was able to go in after hours to complete the work. “This was a highly successful synergy, and we certainly hope to work with SALTS again in the near future,” concludes Zinn.
About Skyriders
Skyriders (Pty) Ltd., established in 1998, is a leader in the South African rope access industry, providing cost- and time-saving solutions to clients in the power generation and petrochemical industries who require rope access aided inspection, NDT and maintenance work to be done in difficult to reach, high-up locations.
Web: www.ropeaccess.co.za
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