Core77

Nadeem Haidary's MSA Bypass Shuttle

By Rain Noe - August 5, 2010

in Object Culture

Chances are slim you'll be able to, but see if you can guess what this is:

That's a patent-pending design called the MSA Bypass Shuttle, designed by Nadeem Haidary, that would allow construction workers rigged to safety cables to pass each other. Construction workers high up on beams will often need to string a lifeline between two I-beams and clip themselves to it, but despite this precaution, falls are still the leading cause of death in that industry; a building being erected right next to Core77's offices had just such an accident a few years ago.

Presumably the fact that workers rigged to the lifelines cannot pass each other leads some to avoid clipping into the lines altogether, as the importance of mobility and deadlines is given precedence over safety. Haidary's design uses clever geometry to enable one worker passing another to flip his shuttle 180 degrees, allowing it to pass "through" the other worker's shuttle without detaching from the line.

The project was named for and done in conjunction with a manufacturer called Mine Safety Appliances, and though Haidary often says "We" in his project description, he does not specifically mention whether he worked as part of a design team or designed the device on his own.

Writes Haidary of his general design philosophy,

I think of design as applied experimentation. To prototype ideas, build things, visit a foreign land, to be curious about everything is to set yourself up for the possibility of discovering new solutions to the world's problems. In fact, I want to be what Buckminster Fuller called a 'comprehensivist'.

Check out the rest of Naidary's stuff here.

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Razvan

14 years ago

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it could work if rotated 90 degree. is just a matter of refining the geometry. Dubya is right, they need to be attached to the cable from the begining, which I think is fine (why not?).

I like the concept.

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William Sutton

14 years ago

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Simply brilliant!
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johnnyringo

14 years ago

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It doesn't seem the current geometry would allow another to pass by at 180deg from each other? Not even close,,,
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Dubya

14 years ago

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I don't really get the solution here, in order for this to work one worker would have to go over or under the others safety line which is still awkward. And how do you get it on the line in the first place; it looks as though you have to put on as many as you'll need when the line is installed?! Also the description and video state there is no way for workers to pass with the currents system, wrong. The picture of the workers included has them wearing twin lines, and there is a reason for that, so you can always have one on at all times like when passing.
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