For as long as 5×5 H-beams have been spliced together on outrigger beam systems, the responsibility has rested with trained installers executing a proven process. Align the beams. Insert the Quickpins. Confirm proper engagement. When performed correctly, the method is reliable, safe, and well understood across the industry.

The problem, as anyone who has audited a jobsite knows, is that ‘correctly’ still leaves room for human error. A distracted moment. A rushed install. A beam that appears fully inserted but isn’t. Suspended scaffolding offers no margin of error for those moments, and the industry has long recognized that even well-established checks can leave room for unintentional error.

Bee Access believes it has found a way to close that gap. The company’s SureSplice Safety Splice Tube, which debuted at last year’s SAIA Annual Convention in Fort Worth and has since entered the market across North America, replaces judgment-based verification with a mechanically enforced connection. If the 5×5 H-beams are not fully seated inside the tube, the Quickpin holes are physically blocked. Only when the beams are fully seated does a built-in mechanical slide unblock the holes and allow the pins to be installed.

It is, in effect, a lock that cannot be bypassed. The story behind it is more down-to-earth. “For years, the market needed a better way to join the beams together, but nobody could figure out a reliable way to safely splice the two beams together in an economical fashion. We were pushed by one of our dealers, Sunbelt Rentals, to come up with a mechanical solution,” says Brian Andrews, VP of Engineering at Bee Access. “After thinking about numerous solutions, the idea finally came to me one morning. That afternoon we had the concept drawings completed, and the first prototype SureSplice was in production.”

The SureSplice combines the familiar Quickpin locking system used throughout the suspended access industry with a redesigned internal mechanism. At rest, or with beams only partially inserted, red ‘no-go’ indicators block all four Quickpin holes, physically preventing pin installation.

When the first 5×5 beam is fully inserted, the red indicators on that end slide clear, the two holes open, and half of the central indicator window shows green. The same process at the other end clears the remaining two holes and turns the window fully green.

Four Quickpins are inserted and locked with lynch pins, followed by a pull check to confirm engagement, completing the installation. No tools are required.

The units are built from aluminum tube with aluminum and stainless steel internal components, and are compatible with most 5×5 outrigger beam systems. The SureSplice is patented and Bee Access has tested the product to verify that it has the same strength as existing splice tubes currently on the market.

Bee Access offers a trade-in program to exchange old style splice tubes with the new SureSplice design. In addition, a retrofit option is offered. Rather than forcing customers to replace a yard full of approved and usable splice tubes, Bee Access offers the option to upgrade their existing 3ft and 8ft splice tubes with the SureSplice mechanism. For companies with significant capital tied up in rigging inventory, that matters.

It also signals how Bee Access positions the product. Andrews has made clear that SureSplice was never intended to remain exclusive to the Bee Access product range. The company plans to introduce the technology to the wider market, including other manufacturers using 5×5 outrigger beam systems.

“The goal is to raise the safety standard across the industry by reducing preventable risk. Safety innovations shouldn’t be proprietary to a single manufacturer; they should be available to everyone,” says Andrews.

“The goal is to raise the safety standard across the industry by reducing preventable risk.”

Suspended scaffolding sits in a category of access work where installation error carries the most severe consequences. The splice tube connection is a routine, repeated step on countless rigging setups, and a mechanical safeguard that prevents an incomplete connection of H-Beams introduces a meaningful layer of risk reduction.

It also reflects a broader direction of travel in the access sector. Where earlier generations of equipment relied on training and procedural compliance to manage risk, more recent product development has shifted toward engineered safeguards. Fall protection systems, load-indicating hardware, and self-checking connectors all share the same underlying logic: if a component can be installed incorrectly, eventually it will be. SureSplice applies that same logic by introducing an engineered safeguard to a connection that has traditionally relied on correct installation and field verification.

SureSplice is available throughout North America, sold directly by Bee Access and through the company’s dealer network. The product will be on display for demonstration at the 2026 SAIA Annual Convention in Nashville. More information is available at beeaccess.com/product/suresplice.