UKC

Not sure if this should go here or the pub, so mods please feel free to move.

A (non-climbing) colleague did a sponsored abseil yesterday, and while the scaffolding looks overkill, the rope-work and safety procedures look suspect to me.  Am I wrong?

youtube.com/watch?v=mICQ_VD0csg&

There's a photo that shows the setup from the other side, but I can't post it here unfortunately.

The tie in knot is this, I think:

https://www.ropelab.com.au/figure-of-8-bunny-ears/

Then belay device clipped into this. Releasable abseil, not something that relates to climbing.

Looks okay to me. Fo8 with bunny ears between the belay loop and a chest harness, to a belay plate which is above the direction of the travel, then over the top to make the lock off position straight (usual just use an Italian hitch but I imagine this is much nicer on the ropes), attached before coming past the barrier. Attached to a central point between the belay loop and chest harness on the ab line. double check, push them off the edge. 

I didn't see anything that made me think "oh my god they are going to die"

Looks like a solid set-up to me, releasable abseil backed up by a belay from above.

Best practice in these situations often looks different to what you do with your mates at the crag as there's extra layers of contingency built in when working with inexperienced members of the public.

Looks completely fine. Abseiling on a fixed rope, back up by a safety rope. Safety rope clipped in by two separate locking carabiners. Far more redundancy than your average personal abseil.

Perfectly good set-up, ironically I know the instructor in the video, used to be a University Tutor, friend and mentor. Climbed all over the UK with him and a trip to Morocco, a very experienced Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor (MCI). Deffo wouldn’t be running any shitty set-ups. My opinion of course. 

Out of interest what about it "looks suspect" to you?