concerning an identified batch of 7 ropes.

Stop using it and contact BealPMI Customer Service for a free replacement.

The following serial numbers, which can be found on the rope label and on the packaging, are affected by this recall:

004A01235824

005A01235824

006A01235824

007A01235824

009A01235824

012A01235824

014A01235824

What to do if you own one of these 7 ropes?

1. Immediately discontinue all use.

2. Check the serial number on the label: If it matches one of the numbers above, your product is

affected.

3. Contact our Customer Service to arrange a free return and replacement.

Products not affected

All other batches of the Beal Sunrise 9.2MM 50M rope as well as all other models in the SUNRISE range are not affected by this recall and remain fully compliant with the current safety requirements.

BealPMI customer service contact

care@bealpmi.com

  800-282-7673

This notice must be displayed until the end of the recall

Please share this information widely

This will enable you to better utilize the same sorts of industrial fall protection equipment used in these types of workplaces.  This, incidentally, is why you see many urban municipal fire departments using full-body, industrial-type harnesses for rescue – most of their responses are to those kinds of workplaces, and they generally can drive their truck to within a short distance of the subject. We will talk about standards in a moment, but typically this is what we refer to as an NFPA Class III harness. These will typically weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 pounds, and cost around $300-500 and upward, depending on features.
On the other hand, if you are a fire department with relatively few industrial callouts, but mainly working in the urban-interface of parks with cliff faces, car-over-the-edge, or similar areas, a full body harness is probably overkill – especially if you need greater agility. In this case you might more appropriately consider a Seat Harness, such as an NFPA Class II or an ASTM 1772 harness. You’ll find these weighing in at 2-4 pounds and at a cost around $200-300, again depending on features.

However, if the majority of your rescue operations are in a mountain or wilderness environment, you are likely much better served to consider choosing something akin to a climbing harness, but with more padding and adjustability. Most importantly, you will probably want to avoid metal D rings (and the alignment challenges they present) so that you can better utilize the same sorts of mountaineering equipment used in such environments and so that it is not too heavy. This is why you see so many rural, wilderness, or backcountry rescue teams using climbing style seat harnesses for safety – because most of their responses are to mountain environments where this type of gear is most appropriate – and they often have to carry gear a great distance. These might meet ASTM 1772 or a European equivalent standard will weigh around 1 pound, and can often be purchased for under $100.

Each of these types of harnesses is perfectly safe and appropriate for working at height, in suspension, but their different features make them more appropriate to different applications. Kind of the same reason we don’t wear turnout boots or bunker gear in the backcountry. Trying to use industrial rescue equipment in wilderness environments would make about as much sense as trying to use wilderness rescue equipment in industrial environments. Although there may be some crossover with a limited range of equipment, the criteria for choosing is quite different.

BOKAT Rope Washer by PMI®

Here at PMI we are committed to safety and compliance in equipment for work at height. In fact, we participate in several professional standards development efforts related to ropes, equipment, and training for high angle work and rescue.

In 1992 I was operating a research and testing lab called Alpine Center for Rescue Studies when Steve Hudson approached me and asked if I would represent PMI to the NFPA 1983 committee. Since then I have participated in this and several other NFPA committees including as chairman of NFPA 1958 and as an inaugural member of NFPA 1670.

Those of you who use, or are subject to, NFPA standards for rescue equipment, operations, and training should be aware of some upcoming changes to the NFPA standards that may impact your world.

—Watch the video or keep reading—

“Familiar documents”

A meeting was recently held to discuss the first draft of what will become an NFPA Consolidated Technical Rescue document, soon to be known as NFPA 2500. The official title of NFPA 2500 is: Standards for Operations and Training for Technical Search and Rescue Incidents and Life Safety Rope and Equipment for Emergency Services. Don’t let the fancy title throw you, though. This NFPA 2500 is nothing more than a bundled package containing three documents with which you are probably already familiar:

NFPA 1983 – Standard on Life Safety Rope and Equipment for Emergency Services

NFPA 1858 – Standard on Selection, Care, and Maintenance of Life Safety Rope and Equipment for Emergency Services

And

NFPA 1670 – Standard on Operations and Training for Technical Search and Rescue Incidents

The first, most obvious question is WHY is NFPA doing this?!

“NFPA 2500 is nothing more than a bundled package”

NFPA’s theory in all of this is simple. They want to make the standards more user-friendly while at the same time making them less expensive and time consuming to develop. According to the NFPA website, they’ve got over 250 committees managing more than three hundred standards documents…  with requests on the table for at least a hundred more! By bundling like-documents related PPE and Pro Qual, they’ll be taking 116 separate documents and consolidating them down to 48 –  theoretically reducing the time investment and travel for meeting required by the more than 9,000 committee members who write them.

In implementing these changes, NFPA has acknowledged that there are two things firefighters hate:

1. change, and
2. when things stay the same.

So, with this in mind, they are going to accommodate all of us:

First, by changing the way the standards are packaged, and

Second, by keeping the existing reference numbers the same,

so if someone wants to implement just one of the standards in a group you can still do that.

“Combination of the three”

Chapter 1 of the new NFPA 2500 will be kind of an umbrella, outlining the scope of the entire document.  In chapter 1,  each of the existing standards: NFPA 1983, NFPA 1858, and NFPA 1670, will still be called out and identified by name, so your AHJ will be able to continue to adopt whatever it is you already use without having to change any terminology or numerical references. You can choose to adopt just NFPA 1983, just NFPA 1858,  just NFPA 1670, or some combination of the three.

“The meat of the document begins”

The way the new NFPA 2500 is organized you’ll find Chapters 1-3 just to be administrative oversite information. The new chapter 1 is just that high-level overview we talked about, explaining how the documents are bundled. Chapter 2 is nothing more than a list of references – same as it is now – and Chapter 3 is definitions. Then the meat of the document begins. Chapters 4-23 will be the content that you presently know as NFPA 1670.  It will still be called NFPA 1670, so if you presently use 1670 for Training and Operations you will still be able to do that. Chapters 24-28 will be the content that you presently know as NFPA 1983. Again, it will still carry the numerical designator NFPA 1983, so the equipment you’re buying will still have that reference number on it.

And, finally, Chapters 29-35 will be the content that you presently know as NFPA 1858.

“NFPA 1858 just released a year or so ago”

You might not even be familiar with this 1858 document yet, because it was just released a couple of years ago. It is designed to provide guidance for Selection, Care and Maintenance of NFPA 1983 Rope Rescue Equipment.

After this, you will find all of the Annexes and Reference Materials for all three of these documents.

Now, there’s just one thing we want to add, and that is: DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER!!!

Rest assured, this was not PMI’s idea! Although Loui McCurley from PMI has sat on the committee for more than 20 years, she is just one of many members. This action was mandated by the NFPA, not chosen by the committee… so committee members are just doing the best they can to try to catch NFPA’s VISION for this and carry it out in time for a GOOD standard to be produced in 2020. Although we didn’t create it, PMI is – as always – going to do our level best to walk with you, support you, and assist you in navigating this change with as little impact as possible on your organization.

We’d love to hear your comments and questions here, and will try to answer any specific questions you might have along the way.

Presenter: Martin Barnett | Product Video |

PMI’s Falcon helmet is designed for use at work-at-height and for professional rescue. The helmet is equipped with both a fourpoint suspension system to reduce impact, and also a ventilation system with metal mesh for air circulation and protection from debris. It also features headlamp/goggle retainer clips. The new low profile design also contains a helmet adjustment dial with a four-point retention system for customized fitting. Weighing less than one pound, this helmet is very lightweight and also has a comfortable moisture wicking headband liner that can be removed and cleaned. One size fits most with a range of 20 to 24.4 inches and the design offers a good adaptation to various head sizes.

Key Features:

• 4 point helmet suspension system for impact reduction
• Comfortable, moisture wicking headband liner that can be removed and cleaned
• Ventilation system with metal mesh that provides air circulation on both sides of the helmet for maximum comfort while working and prevents debris from entering the helmet
• Headlamp/goggle retainer clips
• Helmet adjustment dial and 4 point retention system for customized fitting adjustments

Learn More and Buy Online

Presenter: Charley Shimanski | MRA Webinar Series |
While rescue mountaineers must strive at every turn to focus on the safety of their victims, they understandably must put their own safety first. Rarely, rescuers will be hurt, or even killed.

This multi-media presentation will include a detailed discussion about the multitude of elements pertaining to the risks in helicopter rescue operations in mountainous terrain and will profile a number of helicopter rescue accidents use of helicopters, and will include analysis of those accidents.

Utilizing materials from several Mountain Rescue Association teams and the NTSB, this Power Point presentation will include still and video images of helicopter accident sites. Case studies of accidents and near-misses in mountain rescue operations will be featured in this program.

Charley Shimanski is a member of Colorado’s Alpine Rescue Team, and the Mountain Rescue Program Coordinator for Flight For Life Colorado, which provides critical care transport with five helicopters that assist search and rescue agencies throughout Colorado with rescue capability, aerial search support, and an Avalanche Deployment Program. Author of the MRA’s two Helicopter Training Manuals, and Past President of the MRA, Charley serves as a frequent speaker at national and international rescue conferences. He also served as Senior Vice President of Disaster Services for the American Red Cross in Washington DC.

Presenter: Dale Atkins | MRA Webinar Series | 
While most people think of avalanches as a winter danger, late spring and summer avalanches kill about 1 in 10 of all avalanche victims, and these accidents do not all happen on the big glacier-covered peaks of Alaska and Washington. Having awareness of wet snow instabilities is important for mountain rescuers to stay safe and work efficiently. This is especially important as nearly all summertime avalanche SAR operations are performed by mountain rescuers. This presentation will address the issues of wet snow and wet-snow avalanches as they pertain to mountain rescuers. Sub-topics will include the avalanche rescue problem (who gets into trouble and where); what rescuers should look for when judging the danger, and what rescuers can do to mitigate their risk.

Dale Atkins is a longtime member of Alpine Rescue Team of Evergreen, Colorado. He worked as an avalanche forecaster and researcher for the state of Colorado, and was a long-time professional ski patroller too. Dale is also a past president of the American Avalanche Association and was the long-time MRA representative to ICAR. His daytime job is for RECCO AB, which is an avalanche rescue system used by many mountain rescue and ski patrols around the world.

Video | See how well the Fire Resistant Buff® with DuPont Nomex® resists direct flame.

Presenter: Shaun Roundy | MRA Webinar Series | 
When a child gets injured on the mountain, MRA teams know exactly what to do. We organize search teams, build technical systems, and provide medical care. We perform these advanced skillsets efficiently because we train for them and every incident provides an opportunity to test our abilities.

One crucial skill, however, gets mostly forgotten. We never train for it and don’t know how to measure our proficiency. The first goal of this webinar is to convince you that you’re not as good of a communicator as you thought you were, then suggest a dozen ways to improve.

The webinar aims to make you more aware of helpful communication skills and how your team culture created through communication can either cause fatalities or increase morale and dedication among your volunteers.

Presenter and communications expert Shaun Roundy has been a SAR member for fifteen years, a member of the MRA Intermountain Region leadership for seven, and chairs the MRA Webinar Training Committee. He speaks several languages; taught university strategic writing for fifteen years; and has written several books, including “75 Search and Rescue Stories: an insider’s view of survival, death, and volunteer heroes who tip the balance when things fall apart.”