SAR RESCUE STROP:Ref:H0050
This was first developed for NCB (National Coal Board) in the UK.
The design of the split chest was for rescuing a worker that had fallen into the coal storage shafts in which they could sink up to their necks as in grain silo's, etc. The strop could be threaded around and under their arms to reduce disturbing the surrounding ground. The legs were added about twelve months later after watching the rescue of people from a plane overshooting a runway into the ice covered river in Washington USA. Survivors that were half conscious with the cold were slipping out of the rescue strops and dropping back into the river.

Putting the legs onto the design would have reduced the possibility of this happening, this addition also made it easy to rescue people stuck on sea cliffs and quarry’s, etc.

The Fire and Rescue services took it and found it can be used in most types of rescue that do not require a stretcher, even confined space, shafts and wells.

The UK Maritime Coastguard Agency is possibly the biggest single user of this product in the world at present. The adjustment loops on the chest gives it a large range of chest sizes from very young children to adults. The adjustment on the legs allows the wearer to be in a range of positions from vertical to sitting. The SAR Rescue Strop is ideal for lifting into a sit position a fallen person who is hanging in a fall arrest harness thereby stopping the possibility of suspension trauma. Also lifting people from water in a horizontal position and reducing the possibility of shock due to blood rush from the brain to the legs.