Harnesses

[EMTfirefighter_rookie]

I recently got interested in possibly buying a harness. Thing is I don't know much about them, like what the difference between a rock climbing harness vs. a rescue harness. I am just looking to get a basic setup. Any suggestions?

[Bones42]

Basic setup for what?

Rescue, ladder safety, climbing, etc.

[EMTfirefighter_rookie]

Low angle rescue. Just a setup to get me to a patient so I could start patient care.

[Bones42]

Does your department participate in such rescues? If so, they should be supplying you the equipment.

[MtnRsq]

You should definitely get some guidance from your department on equipment such as harnesses.

Having some level of standardization across personnel is a real plus since it simplifies doing safety checks among other things. For example, if we all use the same harness I can easily check your harness and confirm it is on correctly, etc.

Based on the types of incidents you respond to you should be able to get a better feel for what is required. I'm a big fan of sit harnesses for most things but I operate mostly in a mountain rescue setting where I may spend hours in my harness.

If you haven't done much training in rope rescue I'd encourage you to do that first before jumping into getting a bunch of gear.

[bottrigg]

I recently got interested in possibly buying a harness. Thing is I don't know much about them, like what the difference between a rock climbing harness vs. a rescue harness. I am just looking to get a basic setup. Any suggestions?

Everybody knows that all the cool kids shop at Misty Mountain Threadworks!