Until recently, rope access work was a predominantly male profession, but in recent years, more and more women have entered this sector. In fact, our company has several female rope access workers. This is the case of Vicky Pita Frieiro, a rescue technician who is currently working in a thermal power station in Galicia.
Her main task is, she says, ‘to ensure the safety of the workers in the plant’, a job that is very much about prevention. “Many people think that working in rescue means sitting in an office, waiting for time to pass until “the call” comes, but our work is much more important and the preventive work we do is key“, says Vicky, who explains that this preventive work “encompasses all the tasks of area reconnaissance, which change as the work progresses, so it is a daily job”; it also includes drawing up reports, marking out and removing elements that could pose a risk to workers, among other things.
Vicky stresses the importance for her work of ‘always being active with the ropes’, as ‘you can’t be a good rescuer by playing them from year to year’, she says, referring to the need to complete a series of weekly training, practice and refresher courses, which are essential to have sufficient resources and skills ‘to act as safely and quickly as possible on the day it is needed’.
She points out that some companies have been reluctant to hire women to do rope access work: “They still think that maybe a girl is not up to the job, that we are not strong enough… there is still a long way to go, but I hope that every day we are closer to equality“.
He clarifies that this is not the case of La Línea Vertical, which has several female workers on its staff who carry out this task. So far, she has not met any women, but she hopes ‘to be able to team up with them at some point’.
Vicky is a firefighter as well as a “verticalera”. Most of the work she has done so far has been in industry. She has spent several years working as a firefighter for a subcontractor of Navantia and has carried out various vertical works on facades, installation of networks, staking out and installation of chimneys and lifelines, among others. She has recently collaborated with Ness Project in Scotland on a relevant project. She has also participated in non-destructive testing and has done a lot of rescue work. She says that she started working at La Línea Vertical ‘by chance’, but when the opportunity arose, she didn’t think twice because La Línea Vertical is a national benchmark company and ‘it’s difficult to say no to a project close to home and of long duration’.
In her personal life, she is fond of sports and high-altitude activities. She says she has always done sport and trains every day. She currently practises climbing and canyoning: “I am passionate about canyoning and Galicia, the land of a thousand rivers, is a paradise for developing this hobby. And there is still a lot to discover…”. But her favourite sport is surfing. “I am a surfer, a surfer to the core. I couldn’t conceive of living away from the sea for long,” she admits. She also has a black belt in judo and practises martial arts.
She shows her satisfaction because today she is working at La Línea Vertical in what she likes: in an industrial rescue team. This is the first time she has worked in a thermal power plant, and she emphasises that ‘it’s not just any job: I’m going to be involved in the demolition of one of the largest thermal power plants in Europe’, she says enthusiastically. For her, “it is always an incentive to be in a new environment and to have the chance to continue learning and growing professionally. Each new project gives you endless possibilities and you have to take advantage of them”. She also believes that the bond created with co-workers is very important and, in this sense, she believes she has been lucky: “Both Roldán and Óscar Mesa have been a pleasant surprise, very professional people with whom I can continue to learn and improve every day. Trust is an essential factor in this job and being with a colleague you can trust blindly? that’s everything!