Cutting and emergency release

Note: This guide is an overview of published sources, not medical advice and not a rescue procedure. An injury from rope needs a medical professional, as Rope 365 advises.

A person in rope often cannot free themselves quickly, and in many ties not at all. If they faint, panic, have a seizure, lose feeling in a hand or need to leave because a fire alarm goes off, the people with them may have to get the rope off fast. That is why rope educators treat a way out as part of every tie rather than an afterthought. This guide describes what they recommend and why. It does not teach rescue technique: like suspension itself, that is learned in person, and none of the sources below presents a tested rescue protocol. See also emergency release, safety shears and Safety.

Why a way out matters

The ESINEM Shibari Classes course frames it as a single question: how quickly could the two people get to safety, or the tied person be released, if something went wrong? Any of the problems covered elsewhere on this site can happen, it says, and with no means of escape the result could be serious or fatal. Its conclusion is plain: never leave a tied person unattended, even briefly. Rope 365, the practice project by Ebi McKnotty, links most deaths in rope to being alone or to restricted breathing, and the ESINEM course notes that most accidental deaths happen because the person could not summon help. Even company is not always enough: in one of the fatal cases collected by Schori, Jackowski and Schön, two women were suspended together and an observer was present but could not stop what happened. See Circulation and breathing.

Anatomie Studio’s guide to rope vocabulary gives the everyday version: keep safety shears at hand at all times, so ropes can be cut quickly if someone faints or the fire alarm sounds.

The tools sources recommend

Safety shears. The tool almost every rope source names is the emergency shears used by paramedics, also called EMT or trauma shears. The ESINEM course describes why they are preferred: the blunt, flat tip is designed to slip under rope without cutting the person, and the course says the serrated blade can cut rope in one snip. How well any tool works in practice depends on the tool, the rope and the situation; these are design claims, not guarantees. Shay Tiziano, a rope educator who publishes on Twisted Windows, lists one or two high-quality safety shears in a basic suspension kit.

Tools sources warn against. Knives come up again and again as the wrong choice. ESINEM calls a bladed knife a very bad idea for getting rope off someone who is panicking or having a fit. Rope 365 discourages both knives and kitchen scissors because of the risk of stabbing. Rope 365 also mentions safety hooks and, for knots that have pulled tight, a solid spike such as a marlinspike.

Keeping tools at hand. The sources differ in detail, one fixed place for ESINEM, on the body for Rope 365, but share the aim that no one should have to search for a cutting tool in an emergency.

Release that is designed in

Cutting is not the only way out, and often not the first. The ESINEM course says it is a very good idea to tie so the hands can be freed without undoing everything, and Rope 365 stresses being able to untie quickly anything that interferes with breathing. In suspension, Shay Tiziano describes telling the person he ties how fast he can bring them down, under a minute in general and under twenty seconds to the ground in more mobile suspensions, as part of negotiating the scene.

Cutting loaded rope: a lesson from rope rescue

Rope under body weight behaves differently from slack rope. Firefighter Chuck Dean, writing in Fire Engineering in 1995 about rope-rescue training, described two training near-misses in which a loaded rope parted at the lightest touch of a blade, and the rescuers did not notice that their knife had reached ropes other than the one they meant to cut. He argued against knives in life-safety rope work and for trauma shears or similar cutters that are easier to control.

That article is about rescue systems, not bondage, and none of the rope sources used for this guide sets out a cutting procedure for suspension. What they do say is that lowering a person is its own challenge. Wikipedia’s overview of suspension bondage notes that this is especially hard if the person is unconscious or a hoist jams, which is why people who tie suspensions often work with a spotter. The ESINEM suspension course discusses ways of limiting the harm if something fails, such as backup lines and working height; these belong to in-person teaching, not to this page. Rope 365 advises learning suspension in person from an experienced teacher, noting that self-teaching has led to more incidents. See Suspension risks.

The plan comes first

Several sources treat the emergency plan as part of negotiation. Rope 365 suggests deciding in advance what happens if a partner faints, recommends a first-aid course, and notes that bystanders at an event are part of the picture too: they should know how to respond in an emergency. The forensic review by Schori, Jackowski and Schön on fatal outcomes in BDSM recommends an emergency plan that includes having the tools to free people from bondage ready. See Consent and negotiation.

After a release

Getting the rope off is the first step, not necessarily the end of the problem, and the sources treat what happens next as part of the plan: Rope 365 recommends a first-aid class for responding to emergencies. Symptoms from nerve compression can appear or persist after the tie, and Rope 365 advises contacting a medical professional about any lasting weakness or numbness. The rest of the person’s needs, physical and emotional, are covered in Aftercare and drop and Nerve injuries in rope.