31
APRIL-MAY 2014
ACCESS, LIFT&HANDLERS
Safe at height
DianeWaghorne
and
BrentWise
formed TechSafety Lines after
the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.
ALH
reports on their fall
protection products, plus OSHA’s annual safety stand-down.
D
ianeWaghornewas at home onSept.
11, 2001whenAmericanAirlines
Flight 11 andUnitedAirlines Flight 175
crashed intoNew YorkCity’s Twin Towers,
reducing the iconic skyscrapers to rubble and
killing 2,996 people.Waghorne shared the
grief withmillions across theU.S. andworld,
but she felt she had to do something positive
in thewake of the tragedy. So,Waghornewent
towork.
TechSafety Lines (TSL) is the result of
Waghorne’s efforts and determination.
Not long after 9/11,Waghorne began
researching emergency escape
systems in high-heat environments.
Her search led her to aU.S. Military
manufacturing plant that was in
the process of developing a small,
compact device that would be used
with a high-heat line called the
Military Compact Descender (MCD).
Shortly after discovering theMCD,
Waghorne became a distributor of the
product and then purchased the patent.
She then joined forceswithCaptainBrent
Wise of theDallas FireDepartment and the two
then incorporated TechSafety Lines.
“Our products provide an immediate,
independent, adaptable and simplemeans for
aworker to perform an emergency egress
or self-rescue from practically any elevated
structure or work platform,” saysWaghorne.
“Unlikemany systems in use today, our
products do not rely on any other equipment or
actions taken by fellowworkers.”
According toWaghorne andWise, rescue
is often the forgotten component of a fall
protection plan.
“WhileOSHAmandates a ‘prompt rescue’
for fallenworkers, there is no specific
time rangemandated,”Waghorne
says. “Unfortunately,many companies
consider dialing 9-1-1 as satisfying the
requirement of a prompt rescue. Fewer
things could be further from the truth.”
In 2004, anOSHASafety andHealth
InformationBulletin stated that
“research indicates that suspension
. . . can result in unconsciousness,
followed by death, in less than 30
minutes,” and amore recent study
performed by themilitary found that test
subjects couldwithstand the effects
of suspension trauma no longer
than 17-28minutes.
“Althoughmost emergency
response teams are quite
capable of affecting a rescue,
they simply are often not timely
enough,”Wise says. “TechSafety
Lines offers simple tools and
techniques to enable the fallen
worker to rescue themselves or
mitigate the effects of suspension
traumawhile awaiting rescue. By
elevating rescue to somethingmore
than an afterthought, TechSafety Lines
provides a true rescue solution to our clients’
fall protection plan.”
TSL strongly advocates uncomplicated
methods, clear decision steps and aminimum
of equipment during high-stress, time-sensitive
emergencies.
Product spotlight
Using theMCD patent as a product platform,
Waghorne andWiseworked to develop several
rescue kits and have since patented their
own line of safety products. TSL’s unique
rescue kits have been implemented intomany
rescue plans of large corporations both in
theU.S. and abroad,Waghorne says. Safety
officers have embraced the Program that
TSL has createdwhich includes the added
FALL PROTECTION
Pictured here is theMilitary
Compact Descender (MCD),
whichwas one of TSL’s
first products.
BrentWise, left, andDiane
Waghorne, right, founders
of Tech Safety Lines.
