Rope access and industrial inspection safety manual template
A complete written health and safety program for rope access and industrial inspection companies doing inspection, testing, maintenance and repair on structures, buildings, bridges, dams, stacks and plant, non-destructive testing including radiography, high-rise facade and window work, and confined space inspection, wherever in Canada the job is. It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements and written for the work: planning rope work and its rescue, anchors and anchor assessment, rigging and edge protection, the two-rope system, transfers and aid climbing, team size and technician levels, equipment inspection and retirement, dropped objects and exclusion zones, rescue from rope and suspension trauma, suspended platforms, roof edges, radiography and other NDT, confined spaces, live plant and lockout, electrical hazards, weather limits, remote sites and fatigue. Section 15 sets out the law of every province and territory, and federal workplaces, side by side, with each jurisdiction’s rope access rules where the law names it, fall protection plans and rescue, suspended platforms and window cleaning, radiography licensing and confined space entry. It arrives as an editable Word file you make your own.
A look inside
Sample pages from the manual, marked and cut short. Your copy has no watermark.
What’s in the manual
1. Safety and health policy
A signed, dated policy, the written program, and responsibilities for management, rope access supervisors, technicians at each level, NDT technicians, radiography operators and inspectors, and how we work under the client’s permits.
2. Hazard assessment, analysis and control
Formal hazard assessments by type of structure and task, the 5 × 5 risk matrix, a critical task inventory, and the rope access and inspection job hazard assessment done before every job.
3. Safe work practices
Twenty practices for rope access and inspection: the client’s permits, planning and rescue, anchors, rigging and edges, the two-rope system, transfers, team size and levels, equipment, dropped objects, rescue from rope, suspended platforms, roof edges, radiography, other NDT, confined spaces, live plant, electrical hazards, weather, remote sites and fatigue.
4. Safe job procedures
Step-by-step procedures for rigging a descent from a roof edge, a rope-to-rope transfer, rescuing a technician from rope, running a suspended platform, a radiography exclusion zone, a stuck source, inspecting inside a vessel and stopping work for weather.
5. Company safety rules
Life-saving rules for rope work (two ropes on independent anchors, a qualified supervisor on every job, rescue kit rigged before anyone goes on rope, nobody inside the radiography boundary), and a progressive discipline process applied the same way every time.
6. Personal protective equipment
Harnesses, helmets, descenders, back-up devices, ropes and connectors chosen and inspected as PPE, and dosimeters for radiography crews.
7. Preventative maintenance program
Rope access equipment and its retirement, suspended platforms, NDT instruments and radiography cameras, gas detectors and vehicles.
8. Training and communication
Rope access technician levels and logged hours, rescue drills, exposure device operator certification, NDT personnel certification, confined space entry, and client site orientation.
9. Inspections
Rope access equipment logs, anchors assessed before use, suspended platforms checked before each shift, and radiation surveys at every exposure.
10. Investigations and reporting
Falls, dropped objects, rope or anchor failures, radiation incidents and near misses reported and investigated, to the OHS regulator and the nuclear regulator where it requires it.
11. Emergency preparedness
A technician who can’t self-rescue, a dropped object below, a stuck radiography source, a confined space casualty, weather that turns, and first aid on every job.
12. Statistics, records and document control
Work and rescue plans, anchor records, equipment logs, technician logbooks, radiation surveys and dosimetry, kept for the longest period any jurisdiction requires.
13. Legislation
OHS law and its fall protection and rope access rules, the CSA fall protection and suspended platform standards, IRATA and SPRAT codes as industry standards, federal nuclear safety law, and the right to refuse.
14. Procurement and contractor management
Working for owners and plant operators, building anchor certification, subcontractors, and buying rope access and NDT equipment.
15. Working across Canada
Whose law applies, then every province and territory and federal workplaces side by side: the act and regulation, the regulator, rope access rules where the law names it, fall protection plans and rescue, suspended platforms and window cleaning, radiography licensing, confined space entry, and serious incidents to report and how fast.
Appendix A. COR cross-reference
Every one of the 74 documentation questions in the 14 national COR elements, what it looks for in plain words, the section that answers it, and whether the auditor will also want your records.
Appendix B. Forms
37 print-ready forms that match the manual, each with a form code: among them the rope access and inspection job hazard assessment, rope access work and rescue plan, anchor assessment record, equipment inspection log, radiography exclusion zone and survey record and confined space entry permit.
Written for the work, not just the province
Rope access is safe when two ropes, sound anchors, protected edges and a practised rescue are always in place, and dangerous the moment one is missing. This manual is written around them, practice by practice and procedure by procedure.
Several provinces now name rope access in their law, and section 15 sets them side by side; elsewhere the fall protection rules apply and the manual says so.
One program for every province you work in
Your crews follow the occupational health and safety law of the province or territory where the job is, not where your office is. The manual sets your company’s rules once and gathers what changes at each border into section 15, so a supervisor starting work in a new province looks up what applies there.
It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements, so it suits a COR audit wherever you certify. Each certifying partner uses its own audit tool, so check it against yours; our provincial manuals follow each province’s audit exactly. No template can guarantee a certificate on its own, and we don’t claim to.
Who it is for
Rope access and industrial inspection companies: inspection, testing, maintenance and repair on rope, non-destructive testing and radiography, high-rise facade and window work, and confined space inspection. Telecom tower and tree climbing have their own manuals.
A template is a starting point, not legal or engineering advice: a qualified person must adapt it to your work and the provinces you work in before you issue it.
Lifetime updates
When the law changes, we publish a new edition and email everyone who bought the template. Every update is free, for as long as we publish it.
Version 1.0 October 30, 2026
- First edition, written for rope access and industrial inspection companies and laid out on the 14 national elements of the harmonized COR audit.
- Section 15 sets out the law and the rope access, fall protection and rescue, suspended platform, window cleaning, radiography and confined space rules of every province and territory and federal workplaces, checked against the legislation in force on 30 October 2026.
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Questions
Which province’s law is it written to?
All of them. Your crews follow the law of the province or territory where the job is, so the manual sets your company’s rules once and section 15 sets out, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, what the law there adds. Federally regulated workplaces are in it too.
Will it get us COR?
It is laid out on the 14 national elements every harmonized COR audit shares, with all 74 documentation questions cross-referenced. Each province’s certifying partner uses its own audit tool, so check the manual against the one you are certifying with. The audit also interviews workers and observes work, so no template can promise a pass.
What format is the manual in?
An editable Microsoft Word (.docx) file on US Letter pages. It works best in desktop Word for Windows or Mac. It also opens in Google Docs and Word on the web, where you use Find and replace to put your company name in.
What happens when the legislation changes?
We update the template, and you get every update free for as long as we publish it: lifetime updates at no extra charge. We email you when a new edition is ready, with what changed and a link to download it.
Can I use it for more than one company?
Each purchase is licensed to one company. Consultants setting up programs for several clients should contact us.
Want it tailored to your work?
Our safety advisors can fit the manual to your crews, your clients’ permits and the provinces you work in.
OHS program development