A new safety harness for working at height could improve the productivity of operatives, says the company selling the system.

The system is called Cable Safe and is the brainchild of Stephen Murten, who has set up a company, Cable Safe Ltd, to market the product.

Cable Safe the product comprises an overhead cable tensioned between two telescopic supports made from lightweight steel extrusions and easily fitted to the lower sections of scaffolding. Operatives clip on to the cable using conventional fall arrest and lanyard devices and are then free to move around completely unencumbered by fixed anchorage points and not having to keep clipping and unclipping from anchorage points.

Stephen Murten says the inspiration for the device came from his own experiences in the construction industry - he spent five years as a contracts manager in the rope access industry.

Dangling down a building on a rope looks dangerous, but in fact is one of the safest occupations in construction (see Barry Hunt\'s report in the previous issue of NSS).

Murten says that having worked in the industry and seen people working within the confines of current safety products made him realise there had to be a better way. Cable Safe was born.

He developed the product and the company to sell it in conjunction with the Sceptre Team at the School of Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University.

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