I definitely saw a harness on one guy in the sky climber, the other was swinging by too fast. The regulations say you must wear a harness when elevated in a sky climber and be tied off. If those regs aren't followed, the OSHA investigation will probably bankrupt the company in charge with fines.
In my career, harnesses were a way of life and in certain situations I felt they actually were more of a hazard than any help. Other times it was just plain silly to have to wear them, but the 20 something year old safety boys right out of school had all the answers over someone that spent their life in that atmosphere.
In our training to use them, a person left hanging in the safety harnesses we used had about a 15 minute span before the circulation in your legs was cut off, and about an hour before death. Rescue crews resident in the plant had special padded harnesses that allowed them about a two-three hour window.
We had a thread on here last week about a bucket truck that lost it's hydraulics and wouldn't come down. Several years ago there was a crew in a 60' man lift bucket painting some structures in the local refinery. I don't remember what caused it to have an upset, but one of the men was thrown out of the bucket at the top of the structure and died. They do have a purpose.
