UIAA Safety Label holder Skylotec has published the following information related to its via ferrata sets and in particular all SKYSAFE carabiners.
The message from Skylotec:
The brand SKYLOTEC stands for the highest safety in industry and mountain sport. In the critical area of via ferrata sets in particular, we aim to have the “safest via ferrata set on the market” since we launched the “RIDER”. Our quality controls are accordingly stringent. During the routine quality check of the last batch of the SKYSAFE carabiner, we noticed that its break values are scattered, even though the hardness tests exhibited no deviations. During an enhanced sampling, erratic values were even determined in a range that is no longer standard-compliant/safety-relevant.
The cause for this has now been identified and is due to the hardening process of the steel body. Since we cannot fully rule out that older batches are affected by the quality defect based on the erratic values identified, we have decided to collect all SKYSAFE carabiners from the market for an internal inspection. We are doing this in order to meet our claim of meeting the highest safety and quality standards.
The full article, comprising details on affected sets, contact information and how to send in your equipment can be found here.
