IRELAND: It pays to have a good a head for heights

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Many entrepreneurs can trace their businesses to unusual roots, but few can match Michael O’Shea, who has made a living out of tackling heights.

His two businesses, Irish Rope Access & Safety Consultants and Work at Height Training, involve all sorts of escapades where height is an issue. The businesses date back to 1988, when O’Shea and a friend started rescuing sheep from the cliffs of Cork and Kerry.

‘‘We started doing a few here and there for local farmers that we knew, but word soon spread and we were inundated with requests,” said O’Shea. ‘‘Some of the requests were unusual - from salvaging a fishing vessel trapped at the base of a cliff, to assisting the fire brigade in the rescue of a construction worker from a lift-shaft.”

O’Shea has also found work in the film industry, including all the cliff and helicopter scenes for the War of the Buttons movie. The firm also worked on getting camera people into position to film surfers on Aileens, the massive wave at the Cliffs of Moher.

O’Shea grew up in the village of Beaufort, near Killarney in Co Kerry, and was educated locally. After college, he did an apprenticeship with Liebherr, which makes container cranes in Killarney. He worked there for five years, qualifying as a mechanical craft engineer.

‘‘I eventually had to leave Liebherr, as my sideline job was taking up all my holidays, so effectively Irish Rope Access can trace itself as a fulltime business since 1991,” said O’Shea. The firm’s customers include the Garda Siochána, fire brigade, civil defence, county councils and building firms, including Siac and Bowen Construction.

Some recent projects include securing a cliff on the Bray Head walk for Iarnród Éireann, safety netting at the second terminal at Dublin Airport, and work at Microsoft’s headquarters. The company has also started working on a project on Skellig Island.

Future plans include a dedicated ‘‘work-at-height’’ training centre, which O’Shea said would be the first of its kind in Ireland. The training centre will include a climbing wall, which will be 12.5 metres high, 28 metres long and have an eight-metre overhanging section.

‘‘We are also developing a high ropes course and an area specifically for rescue teams,” said O’Shea. ‘‘We’ve invested nearly €2million and are negotiating with a certifying body.”

O’Shea is also involved with two others in developing and patenting a high-rise escape device, which they hope to launch next year.

‘‘We have also developed a new rope rescue system for height rescue teams,” he said.

‘‘It has an inbuilt shock absorbency so, in the event of an incident, the system won’t fail. We also have a new ground anchor that is currently in the process of achieving CE certification.”

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