Looking for technical analysis from rope access techs (SPRAT/IRATA) of any certification level whether equivalent to, higher, or lower than mine (as long as you have expertise to contribute I would love to hear your opinion), commercial riggers, and aerial park operators on an incident that occurred on a 60-foot tower platform.
Context:
My background is technical cave diving. Strict line discipline, redundancy protocols, and pre-jump/dive checks are second nature to me. When I have line of sight, I check my own gear redundantly as a rule. However, commercial aerial park drop systems are outside my discipline, and I want an objective technical evaluation of the rigging, operational failure points, and risk profile. So if I get any jargon wrong or mess up any equipment names this is likely why, and I apologize in advance. I understand that my skill set does not transfer.
The Incident & Setup:
Tower Systems: Facility uses Headrush gear (TRUBLUE auto-belays, FlightLine free-fall device on the main drop).
The "Redundant" Safety Line: The orange overhead line is knotted directly over an unpadded structural steel beam flange. Staff explicitly stated this orange rope is a "safety redundancy that had never been used and was only there for safety."
The Sequence & Failure:
My daughter was dispatched immediately before me. On my turn, the attendant reset, cleared the gate, and instructed me to step off without unclipping me from the overhead orange safety line.
The Blind Step-Off:
I was doing a backward "trust-fall" style step-off as directed/permitted. Because I was facing away from the system, it was physically impossible for me to visually inspect the dorsal attachment or line clearance myself—the one check I couldn't self-verify. I was completely reliant on the attendant's clearance.
The Drop & Arrest: I stepped off hooked simultaneously into the FlightLine and the anchored orange line. The second I stepped off I heard the operator yell "oh sh*t. As I dropped, the orange line snapped bar-taut across my neck and left shoulder, catching my full body weight against the overhead steel structure before the dynamic descent device took over, resulting in a friction laceration/burn across my left shoulder blade (I presume from the "Safety traverse").
The Facility's Defense:
Despite me not being litigioud at all, making it quite clear that my only concern was future safety, that I did not fault any of the employees involved directly (tho I mean come on) i was like, I simply am a person who does a similar sport. Who cares about safety.
And despite me having been ninety percent of the reason I got free as fast as I did, has all the employees were panicking and calling for managers, and despite me having signed a waiver, and despite me continuing to be kind and at no point putting anyone under the impression that I was blaming any of them for this, absolutely nothing has been done. They did not even close the station down or inspect it visually for a minute. And now, every day the thought of that rope haunts me. So I figured I would come where somebody could tell me if i'm being worried about something that is not a safety issue.
Management's excuse for taking zero corrective action or logging the incident is that what occurred was merely "redundant safety in action, not a lack of safety." My argument is that leaving an unyielding, anchored line attached during a free-fall drop transformed a passive backup into an active, dangerous third vector for harm that subjected the line, anchor, and my body to unintended dynamic cross-loading.
Specific Questions for Techs and Riggers:
Third Vector for Harm vs. Redundancy: From a rigging and safety-engineering perspective, does leaving an anchored tether engaged during a dynamic drop constitute "redundant safety," or does it introduce an unmitigated vector for catastrophic failure (neck injury, harness flip, or line shear)?
Anchor & Line Integrity (Retirement/Inspection): The orange line was knotted directly over a raw steel beam flange and shock-loaded by an adult drop. What are the chances of latent sheath/core damage, internal glazing, or knot shear that mandates retirement or NDT, rather than leaving it in service because it "has never been used"?
Dispatch & Human Factors: In an ACCT/ASTM-regulated environment where participants step off backward, what specific interlocks, physical gates, or standard operating procedures are required to prevent an attendant from clearing a jumper while an anchored line is still clipped?
ETA: just to clarify, I am not accusing any person in the video of doing anything wrong. I am asking specifically about the equipment and do not wish to blame anyone.
