Protection Against a Falling Gourd Rack Or Martin House

[TerryW]

Dead Rod Protection

Do you raise and lower your martin cavities? Do you stand or bend over underneath the heavy rack of cavities during this operation? If so you are violating one of the most important safety rules in rigging, working under a suspended load. This is a "Thou Shalt Not". Most all of us do this, and we are asking for injury when we do it. These cavity systems are getting larger and larger, and of course heavier and heavier. The cables, clamps, pulleys, winches, etc, undergo corrosion and fatigue with every raising and lowering. Solutions to prevent having to do this are expensive and are not easily installed. Since this is a playtime endeavor, most people will not spend the money required to prevent this exposure.

There is a way to minimize the injury potential from a failed suspension system that can result in a falling rack or house crashing down on your upper torso. At the elevation that is just above your head, 6 feet or so, drill a hole through your support pipe, all the way through both sides of the pipe and keep a 3/8 inch steel rod, 12 inches or so in length, resting in the hole. If you are lowering your system and something fails and the rack or house falls, it will hit the rod and be either stopped or slowed down to the point that you might escape quickly and not be injured. If everything remains okay during the lowering of your system, just before you have lowered it to the elevation of the rod you installed, you then remove the rod and continue lowering the system. At this lower point if your apparatus should break and fall, it will not be falling from a great distance above your head, and maybe all you would suffer is a few bumps and bruises.

I am told that some commercial martin systems come with a safety pin used for this purpose; that's great, but I ask if you are using yours? In your eagerness to install your system, did you lay it aside and forget about it? Or, if you are using it, is it in place resting there in place at this moment? Leave it installed on the pole at all times to protect you or others , especially children who may be fascinated with your martin system? If the use of a dead pin is old news, well, it really doesn't hurt a thing to re-promote using it, right?...because people tend to become lax when it comes to safety.

Emil, you are being paged over on The Purple Martin Clubhouse Facebook page!

[Kegger]

great idea and easy!

[Kegger]

great idea and easy!

[flyin-lowe]

I can't remember where the article is but this was brought up and it will weaken the strength of your pole. Someone on here a lot smarter than me knew by how much depending on the type of pole. Depending on what you have it could be better to just stand out of the way (if possible) than to risk having the pole more succeptable to wind damage, especially people who live in high wind areas.