How the Uni-Life Track Fall Protection System Solves Height Safety Challenges
Working at height is dangerous, but the right solution can keep your team safe and your business compliant. The Uni-Life Track Fall Protection System by Columbus McKinnon is an innovative, OSHA-compliant safety solution designed to protect workers in industries like aviation, manufacturing, and entertainment. With its lightweight aluminum construction and customizable features, this system ensures safety and versatility for both temporary and permanent applications.
Key Features of the Uni-Life Track Fall Protection System:
- Dual-purpose design: Functions as both a load rail and fall protection system.
- Lightweight aluminum construction: Corrosion-resistant, easy to install, and maneuverable.
- Enclosed track design: Offers superior durability compared to horizontal lifeline systems.
- Rescue-friendly brake technology: Simplifies rescue operations with friction-based trolleys.
- Versatile applications: Ideal for aircraft maintenance, loading docks, automotive plants, and entertainment rigging
Unlike traditional steel systems, the Uni-Life Track Fall Protection System is lighter, easier to handle, and designed to withstand harsh environments. It’s dual-purpose design and customizable features, including curved rail profiles, customizable components, and the ability to add multiple operators, make it a standout choice for businesses looking to enhance worker safety.
Compare the Uni-Life Track Fall Protection System
- Cost-Effective: Comparable pricing to steel systems with added advantages.
- Reusable After Falls: Fixed track systems require less downtime compared to horizontal lifelines.
- Customizable Solutions: Tailor your system to fit unique facility needs with curved rail options and engineered components.
Whether you’re managing fall protection for an automotive plant, overseeing aircraft maintenance, or responsible for rigging at entertainment venues, the Uni-Life Track Fall Protection System adapts to your specific needs. Its dual-purpose design as both fall protection and load rail makes it particularly valuable in environments where workers need to safely access and handle materials at height.
Falls are a leading cause of workplace injuries and OSHA fines for non-compliance can be costly. Protect your team and your business with the Uni-Life Track Fall Protection System. Contact a Mazzella Fall Protection Specialist today for a quote and learn how this innovative system can transform your approach to safety.
Transcript
Intro
– If you’re working at height, you need fall protection. That’s anywhere above four feet for general industry and six feet for construction. The Unified Industry’s Uni-Life Fall Protection System by Columbus McKinnon can be used in temporary or permanent applications. Let’s take a look at how this system can help protect your team from slips, trips, and falls when working in elevated work areas.
Uni-Life Track Is Load Rail + Fall Protection Rail
– The Unified rail is designed as load rail and then we’ve also certified it as fall protection rail. If you have an application where you need an operator to move a lifting device, you can while your operator is restrained because they’re working at elevation. And then they can go ahead and position a hoist or a heavy load wherever they need to.
What Is the Uni-Life Track Fall Protection System?
I am Dave Roey with Unified Industries. Uni-Life is Unified Industry’s fixed track fall protection system, loading docks, aircraft industries, automotive plants, any facility where people are working at height, and they need to comply with OSHA and ANSI standards. It can also be used in entertainment applications, so video walls, production sets.
What Are the Advantages of an Aluminum vs Steel Track Fall Arrest System?
We felt like there was a need for an aluminum fall arrest system. So ETA stands for Enclosed Track Aluminum. This is enclosed track rail.
There were other steel systems out there, but aluminum, especially in the entertainment world, is lighter, easier to handle, cleaner, less likely to corrode, especially if it’s in an outside or a high-moisture application. One to one, head to head between aluminum system and a steel system, cost is relatively competitive. We’re within a hundred dollars of the competition, so the biggest advantage then becomes that we’re protected against corrosion and high moisture, or outdoor environments, and we’re lighter than steel systems, so it’s easier to move and manipulate.
Horizontal Lifelines vs Enclosed Track Fall Protection Systems
Horizontal lifeline, anywhere from wire rope to synthetic rope, has to be pulled very tight. And then once somebody falls, it can only be used that one time, it has to be replaced. Whereas with a fixed track system, and if somebody were to fall, then all we need to do is inspect the trolley, make sure that everything functions, nothing was damaged in the process. And then the whole thing can be reused without removing anything.
You don’t have to call Unified or Columbus McKinnon to inspect the trolley or inspect your system as long as you have a Competent, Qualified Person, in most states, according to ANSI and OSHA requirements.
What’s the Difference Between the Uni-Life Rail Profiles?
We offer two rail profiles, our five inch profile and our eight inch profiles. Our eight inch profile can be curved. Our five inch profile cannot. So if somebody has a monorail application for fall protection and they want to use curved rail, they’re going to need to use ETA-8. Now the ETA-8 weighs a little over eight pounds per foot.
The ETA-5 weighs right around four pounds per foot. So the ETA-5 is lighter and it’s easier to maneuver. So if you’re using shorter sections, say in an entertainment application, you’re probably going to prefer the ETA-5. So you can use shorter sections, run it up stairwells, into elevators, move it from show to show, set to set.
Can Multiple Workers Be Supported by the Uni-Life Track System?
Multiple workers can work on this track, anywhere from one to however many you need. With our eight-inch heavy-duty rail, four persons can work on the track with a 13-foot hangar span. Our standard span of 10 feet for our five-inch profile and our 20-foot span on our eight-inch profile will allow two people to work on it.
We can actually do a 40-foot span with our eight-inch rail and support one person.
What Are the Features and Standardized Options of the Uni-Life Track System
For fall protection, our rail and our trolleys are rated to 310 pounds per person at 900 pounds of maximum arresting force, MAF.
Because it’s based on Unified’s load rail, we can also offer it as an X-Y crane system. So we can have runways and bridges, and you can put the fall protection trolley on the bridge to allow a person to travel in an X-Y axis, and so it kind of opens up an entire floor space for them, so for working on aircraft wings or on a very large stage floor.
Features of the Uni-Life Fall Protection Trolley
We offer a really low rolling resistance on our trolley so that the trolley seamlessly tracks along the operator. And the biggest differentiator, our trolleys have a rubber-like brake pad that makes contact with the rolling surface. Whereas other systems have teeth or a knurled foot that engages with the steel.
If you have teeth or something that lock into here, then it makes it harder to get an incapacitated person to a safe area. Say they’re near an electrical line and you don’t want to work on or try to rescue the person in the vicinity of hot electricity. So you’ve got to release the load on the brakes so that you can actually roll them out of the way. Whereas our system, the brake is going to remain engaged. But with some friction and a little bit of effort, you can even use a grappling hook on the trolley and slide the person out of the way so that you can more easily rescue and recover them.
It takes 25 to 50 pounds of force to engage the brake. Once the brake’s engaged, should an operator fall and the arrest system comes into play, then the trolley will no longer travel in either direction.
If somebody is incapacitated, with our rubber braking system, then with a little bit of effort, somebody can come in and grapple onto the trolley and slide with friction on the rail to help get them to safety.
What Are the Customization Options for the Uni-Life Track System?
If you need us to modify a hanger so that you can utilize it to customize with your own parts and components, we can easily do that. Our engineers can work with your engineers.
We can curve our eight-inch profile. We can do up to a six-foot radius with a 90-degree bend. And then we can do 45s. We can dog leg. We can even dog leg on a vertical plane.
So you can take it unpainted. We can anodize it. We can anodize it clear, we can anodize it black. And we can paint it any color that you need for your application as long as you provide the Sherwin-Williams RAL numbers.
How Much Does the Uni-Life Track Fall Protection System Cost?
The price range of Uni-Life, and it depends on your rail profile, the five-inch to the eight-inch, ranges anywhere from $50 to $70 a foot. And then, depending on how much custom work, could raise that price even more.
How Can You Get a Quote on the Uni-Life Track System?
To get a quote on Uni-Life Fall Protection, contact your Mazzella Fall Protection Specialist. Regardless of the industry or environment that you are working in, Uni-Life rail is safe, ergonomic, durable, easy to use with a great rolling resistance. And our trainer is so confident in it that he jumped off an I-beam while connected to a Uni-Life trolley.
– Hopefully now you have a better understanding of the Uni-Life Track Fall Protection System. Whatever system you use, it is important that you utilize fall protection when working at heights. OSHA cites falls as a leading cause of death in the workplace and will hand out hefty fines to those found in violation. Mazzella can help with all your fall protection needs, from custom-engineered solutions to all your fall protection PPE.
If you found this video useful, informative, entertaining, or you just feel like being friendly, then hit that Like button so we can get this information out to everyone who needs it. Subscribe and hit the bell so you never miss a video. If you have a question, drop it in the comments so we can get you an answer. Remember, safe rigging is smart rigging. My name is Ben. Stay safe out there.
FREE DOWNLOADS
- Top 10 Safety Tips for Working at Height Infographic
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- Job Safety Analysis and Working at Height Risk Assessment Bundle
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- What Can You Expect From a Working at Height Risk Assessment?
- Safety Factor: How To Avoid OSHA Fines While Working at Height
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Contact Mazzella
- Schedule Remote or In-Person Fall Protection and Rigging Training
- Contact Mazzella’s Fall Protection Division
Disclaimer:
Any advice, graphics, images, and/or information contained herein are presented for general educational and information purposes and to increase overall safety awareness. It is not intended to be legal, medical, or other expert advice or services, and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate industry professionals. The information herein should not be considered exhaustive and the user should seek the advice of appropriate professionals.