AreYourCowsTailsSafe?

(ReproducedfromtextofarticlepublishedinSpeleology,Issue12,April2008)

Ithasbeensaidthatthemostabusedpartofcaversgearisthecowstail.
Theygetdraggedaround,troddenon,loadedoverroughlimestone,shock
loadedandwithallthis,caversstillignorethebasicfactswithsomeonly
discardingthemwhenthesheathiswornandtheycanseetheinnercore.

Whilstonedoesnotwantthistohappenbecausetheyareworn,there
alwaysseemstobeanumberofcaverswhoadmitduringdiscussionseach
yeararoundBCAsropetestrigatHiddenEarth,Ohwell,mineismany
yearsoldanditseemsOK.AquickglanceattheBritishCaveRescue
Councilsannualstatisticssince1995(BCRC)indicatethatnoonehashadto
berescuedfollowinganinjurycausedbyafailureoftheircowstails.(We
excludedeventscausedbythelackofuseofacowstailandthosestatedas
takingplaceduringabseiling.Oneincidentwasreportedinwhichtheinjured
personwasfoundattachedbytheircowstailattheheadofthepitch,see
BCRCincident24in1998.)Buthowmanypeoplehavesufferedlesserinjuries
andgotoutundertheirownsteam?Thisarticleispromptedbytherecent
publicationofareportonsomeworkundertakeninpartonbehalfofthe
FrenchFederationofSpeleologyintotheperformanceofcowstails(2006).

ShockLoading&ImpactForce

Thefocusofconcernaroundacowstailisthepotentialforthecaverto
receiveaninjuryfollowingafallontotheircowstail.Astheadagehasit,it
isnotthefallwhichkillsyou,itisthesuddendecelerationattheend.
Crawford(2003)reviewedtheliteraturerelatingtothenatureofinjuries
resultingfromshockloading,whicharosemostlyfromstudiesonuseof
aircraftejectorseatandparachutes.Ofnoteinthereviewwasthefactthattheharnesscandelivera
shockloadingintothebodywhichdoesnotbreakanybonesorcausespinedamage,butcanresult
insevereimpacttraumatointernalorgans(brain,heart,liver,spleen,etc.)resultingindeath
(Crawford2003).Althoughthetopiciscomplex(dependingnotjustonthedecelerationforce,but
alsoupontherateofchangeofthedecelerationforceaswellasthetypeofharnessandtheweight
oftheperson),workhasledCEN(EuropeanCommitteeforStandardisation)toadoptalimitof6kN
soastominimisetheriskofinjuryfromsuddendeceleration(Crawford2003).IntheUSAavalueof
8kNhasbeenadopted(Crawford2003).Thereviewfoundevidencewhichsuggestedthatphysically
fitpersonscouldwithstandupto12kNinparachutetypeharnesseswithoutbeinginjured(Crawford
2003).

AtypicalSRTsetupwhenusingacowstail,willincludeinorderofconnection,somerock,ananchor
(usuallysteel),acrab,thecowstail,amaillon,andaharnesswithinwhichthebodysits.Clearlythe
rockandsteelcomponentswillhardlyabsorbanyenergyoftheshockloadingfromafallingmass.
Harnessesaremadefromtapeandtapeisapoorshockabsorberwhencomparedtorope(FFS
2006).Curiously,theEuropeanstandardfordynamicrope(BSI1997)onlyrequiresthattheimpact
forcefromdroppingan80kgmassthroughapproximately4.8mona2.8mlengthofsingleropeshall
notexceed12kN.IncontrasttheEuropeanstandardforsemistatic(i.e.lowstretchkernmantle)
rope(BSI1998)onlyrequiresthattheimpactforcefromdroppinga100kgmassthrough
approximately0.3mona2mlengthofsingleropeshallnotexceed6kN.Whilstitisnotpossibleto
computeanequivalentimpactforceforastandardweightanddrop,itisclearfromthefiguresthat

asemistaticropeisfarlessabsorbentofashockthanadynamicrope.Thisisborneoutbytests
undertakenbyFrenchFederationofSpeleology(2006)whichshowshigherpeakforceloadsdueto
semistaticropesthandynamicropes.

DropTesting

LyonEquipmentLtdcarriedoutalargeamountofworkfortheUKsHealthandSafetyExecutiveinto
itemsofpersonalprotectiveequipmentusedinindustrialropedaccess(Lyon2001).Partofthiswork
focusedoncowstails,orastheyareknownintheropeaccessbusiness,attachmentlanyards.Their
work,whichuseda100kgmassfallingthroughfallfactor2,wasconstrainedbythelimitofthe
measuringequipmentbeingonly10kNforce.Someofthetestsdidresultinreadingsgoingoffthe
scale.Evenso,itwasclearthatusingloopsindynamicropemadebysewingresultedinalargerpeak
forcethanusingloopsmadebyknotsinasemistaticropewhichinturnresultedinalargerpeak
forcethanusingloopsmadebyknotsinadynamicrope(Lyon2001).ThereportnotedthatWithall
theknotstested,extremetighteningoccursduringtheimpact:thiswouldbeobviousoninspection
andintheworkplacethecowstailshouldbereplacedimmediately(Lyon2001).

TheworkundertakenbytheFrenchFederationofSpeleology(2006)expandsthisknowledgebase
byasubstantialamount.Some294dynamicfalltestswereconductedtogetherwith28strength
testsonarangeofcowstailsincludingbothmanufactured(loopsmadebystitchingropeortape)
andknotted(dynamicandsemistaticropeofvariousdiameters).Thedynamictestsusedan80kg
masstorepresentthecaver,whichisprobablyanunderestimateofacaversweight.Recentwork
undertakenfortheHealthandSafetyExecutive(LUABS2005)indicatesthatitislikely(95%
confidence)thattheinterval112.3kgto118.4kgcoversthetruevalueofthe95thpercentileforthe
weightofworkerswithoutequipment.TheFrenchpretensionedtheirknotsto3kNwhereasLyon
Equipmentused2kN.(Forcomparison,astrongpersonmaybeabletopretensionaknottoabout
0.5kNbysimplypullingonit.1)Thevalueof3kNwasbasedonpreviousworkdonebytheFrench
FederationofSpeleology(2006).Interestingly,LyonEquipmentmeasuredforcesgeneratedbya
personabseilingandprusiking(2001)whichwerealllessthan1.6kN.
CalculatingtheFallFactor

Thereportnotesthatthereareanumberoffactorswhichneedtobetakenintoaccountin
computingthefallfactorofacowstailinuse.Theypointoutthatthelengthofthecrabplusthe
maillon(typically0.18m)issignificantincomparisontothelengthofacowstail(typically0.36mand
0.60m).Mostoftheirfallfactorswerequotedasbeingeither1or2butthereportdetailswhatthis
means.Clearly,whenonehasanoverallfalldistanceof0.63mfora0.36mlengthofrope(which
includesthetwoknots),therestbeingmadeupoftwokarabinerlengths(oneswitchingfrombeing
belowtobeingabovetheconnectionpointontheharness),thenthefractionoftheoveralllength
whichisabletoabsorbenergyisnowherenear100%asisconventionallyassumed.(Slightly
confusingly,severaltestswereundertakenusingthedistanceofthesetupmeasuredunderthe80kg
loadcalledrealfallfactors.Thisatleastreflectstheapproachusedinthestandardstomeasure
ropelengthswhenundertakingdroptests.)

Itisworthnotingthatasimplemodelofalengthofropewhoseendshavebeenmadeintoloops
formedbyknotssuggeststhatover20%oftheenergyistakenbytheknotsfora0.30mlongcows

Basedon100lbforceinamodernbow,seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_longbowasat16
October2012.

tail,reducingtolessthan5%fora2mlongcowstail(Mehew2005).Thisinfluenceoftheknotswas
observedinthepeakforcesexperiencedbysamplesofthesameropebuthavingdifferinglengths
(FFS2006)andalsodifferingdiameters.Thusthestateoftheknotscanplayacriticalroleinshock
absorbing.

RepeatedFalls

Thereportincludesanumberofrepeatedfallsoncowstailswhichshowedanincreaseinpeakforce
onthesecondandthirdfall(FFS2006).Henceknotswhichhavebeentightenedupeitherbyprior
useorfromafall,willabsorblessenergyinasubsequentfall,thusresultinginahigherpeakforce
andhenceincreasingthepossibilityofinjury.

Therewasonlyonepartialfailureonathirdfallfactor1drop(Test238,seephotoonpage6of
report)butthiswasusing8mmrope.Inanumberoffallfactor2drops,thecowstailsfailedonthe
secondfall(FFS2006)butthesewerein9mmorsmallerdiameterrope.Thisjustreaffirmsthesense
ofusingatleast10mmdynamicropeforonescowstails!

ChoosingtheRightKnotsforIncreasedSafety

Thereportcoversawiderangeofsinglelanyardsand
cowstailsincludingonemadefromtape,severalmade
fromsewndynamicropeandmanymadefromvarious
combinationsofknotsandropetypes.

Theworkshowedavariationwithrespecttocombinations
ofknotsateachend,seetableopposite.Forcomparison
theLyonEquipment
workindicated
somewhatlarger
peakforcevalues.
Figure1
Itshouldbebornein
mindthatwhilsttheFrenchpreloadedtheknotsto3kN,Lyon
onlyused2kNandthatwhilsttheFrenchusedan80kgmass,
Lyonused100kg.However,thespreadofthedataforboththe
FrenchandLyonworkwhichmakesuptheseaveragesdoes
notstatisticallyjustifyaclaimthatanyonecombinationis
betterthananyothercombination(Mehew2008).
Interestingly,testsdonewithbadlypositionedbarrelknots
(FFS2006)whichmightinterferewiththegateofthecrab,see
Figure1,showedtheknotwouldmovebacktotheproper
positionundertheshockload.

Traditionalcowstailscompriseofacentralknot,normallyan
overhandloopknotwitheitherafigureofeightknotora
barrelknottoholdthekarabinerateachend,seeFigure2.

Astheropeusedintheconstructionofmostcowstailsis
dynamicrope,itmakessensethataknotcapableofabsorbing
energyisalsoused.Thebarrelknotisnotonlyagoodknotfor
energyabsorption,butitwillalsoholdthekarabinercaptive

Figure2

oncedressed(semitensioned).Theuseofasingleknottothecentralmaillondoesgiverisetoa
slightreductioninultimatesafetyasasingleknotisbeing
usedforattachingtwocowstailstoacentralstrong
point.Fortheultimateinsafetyeachsafetylinkshould
haveitownattachmentknot.

Byconstructingonescowstailsslightlydifferently,
featurescanbeaddedthatenablethemtobeusedmore
efficientlyandincreasetheirsafetymargin.InFigure3
therearetwooverhandloopknotsattachingthecows
tailstothecentralmaillon.Thisincreasesthesafety
marginaseachcowstailisindependentlyattachedtothe
harness.Thesetwoknotsleaveasmallloop(whichcanbe
lengthenedduringconstructionifnecessary)between
them.Thisnoweffectivelygivestheuseralongcowstail,
ashortcowstailandaveryshortcowstail.Thisvery
shortcowstailhasnumerousadvantages.Itcanbeused
toattachtoanchorswheretheuserwantstobeheldin
closeproximitywhichcertainlymakespassingrebelays
Figure3
easier.Intheeventofrescueitgivesaveryshort
attachmentpointsothecasualtyiskeptclosetothe
rescuer.IfteachingSRTitgivesanadditionalattachment
pointwhilepositioningthelongorshortcowstails.

CaringforCowsTails

Sohowshouldyoulookafteryourcowstails?Firstifyoudofallontoyourcowstails,thenatthe
nextpracticableopportunity(thatiswhenyouhavegottoasafelocationawayfromthepitch)you
shouldrelaxtheknotsandredressthem.Thisactionwillreducethetensionwithintheknotsand
thusenablethemtoabsorbmoreoftheforcewhichwouldariseifyoufellagainontothem,thus
reducingtheriskofinjurytoyou.Aftereachtripuntiealltheknots,rinsetheropethoroughlyin
cleanwaterandhanginadry,wellventilatedplacetodry(notinthesun).Beforeretyingtheknots
inspecttheropeforanysignsofdamageorwear.Oncetheknotshavebeenretied,dressthemto
ensurecorrecttyinganduniformity.Iftheyshowanysignsofdamage,replacethem.Thechoiceis
yours,extendthelifeofyourcowstailsoryourownlife!

BobMehew
LesSykes
DamianWeare

Noteaddedin2012

Subsequentresearchworksuggeststhatoverhandknotsarelikelytobestatisticallyweakerthan
figureofeightorbarrelknots.

BobMehew
rope@british-caving.org.uk

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