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Personal Fall Arrest Systems are to be worn when working at heights and Fall Elimination or Prevention Systems are insufficient or impractical. Fall elimination and prevention should always be considered first. Fall Prevention systems include barricades and guard rails. Fall Elimination involves engineering controls to eliminate fall hazards. Techniques include covering holes with plywood, covering wells, doing work from the ground when possible, etc. Complete elimination is often difficult or impossible to achieve, but even partial elimination helps to reduce fall hazards.
Fall Arrest Systems are designed to prevent a fall from causing serious harm or death by limiting the impact force of a free fall and preventing the user from hitting the ground. A good fall arrest arrangement offers significant freedom of movement for workers to carry out their work. Fall Arrest Systems in their simplest form involve three components: anchorage, lanyards, and full-body harnesses. The distance of the fall must be great enough to allow the fall arrestor to perform its function.
Soft Landing Systems are designed to protect someone from injury when falling from height. These include "safety bags" which can be filled with foam, air or water.
Anchorage
Anchorage
Anchorage can come in many different forms. They can be as simple as anchoring directly to a structural member or as complicated as a complete lifeline system.
It’s imperative that you choose the best anchor point and connector for the job so anyone working at height is protected. These devices must be easily accessible, capable of withstanding at least 5,000 lbs. of force per worker, and they must be elevated enough for a worker to miss contact with a lower level should a fall happen. Anchors must be fixed to a strong structural member. Anchors are not effective if they are attached to weak materials. Certain structural members may not be strong enough to hold the sudden weight imposed by a falling worker. The anchorage manufacturer should provide instructions on anchor installation.
Many anchors are removed when they are no longer needed. Other anchors are designed to be left in place for future use (e.g., repeated servicing), are covered over during the job (e.g., with roofing shingles), or are cut flush with the surrounding surface (e.g., concrete bolt-style anchor protruding from a wall).
Lanyards
Lanyards
Lanyards serve two purposes. The first is simply to connect the fall harness to the anchor point. They can be one piece, as in the picture to the right. They can also be two components, a lanyard and a rope, attached by a rope grab that can travel up the rope but not down it.
The second purpose of a lanyard is to absorb the impact of the fall. Lanyards should have a deceleration device or shock absorber built into the system. Pictured to the right in black is a shock pack with a PVC sleeve, this sleeve tears out during fall arrest. Other options include an expandable style that expands and contracts as you move, which in turn helps keep the lanyard shorter. Double, or Y-Lanyards, allow the user to navigate obstacles while remaining tied-off 100 percent of the time.
Positioning Lanyards are safety lanyards that do not have any shock absorbing properties. They eliminate the chance of a fall because they are mainly used for restraint or positioning. It is vital that you remember that these lanyards must be used for restraint only, they cannot be used in a fall arrest system.
Full-Body Harness
Full-Body Harness
A full body harness is a body holding device used to protect workers from falls by distributing the force of the fall over a large area of the body and ensure that the person remains suspended in an upright position. It is designed to minimize the risk of injuries caused by suspension. Harnesses include shoulder straps and leg straps, a sub-pelvic assembly, adjustable buckles or fasteners, and one or more D-rings to connect to a lanyard.
The dorsal D-ring (between the worker's shoulder blades) is used with a fall arrest system. D-rings in other positions are sometimes included for use with ladder safety devices. For this reason, some harnesses come with D-rings on the front, sides, and lower back.
A safe and effective harness will fit (i.e., be the correct size) and is adjusted so that all straps are snug. Dangling leg straps or arm straps are signs that the harness is not being worn correctly. Although adjustable, some models come in different sizes.
Inspection
Inspection
As with any piece of equipment, harnesses require care, maintenance and storage to ensure they function properly. Workers should inspect their harness before each use, with more in depth inspections occurring monthly.
Webbing and Stitching
Webbing and Stitching
Hold the connecting device with your hands six to eight inches apart. Bend the webbing in an inverted “U” to cause surface tension and expose problem areas. Inspect the entire surface of the webbing for damage, starting at one end and moving along each surface of the harness.
Things to look for:
UV damage (discoloration), mildew, or rot
Cuts, fraying, or abrasion
Chemical or solvent damage
Grease, oil, paint, or marker stains
Soiling
Evidence of heat damage (friction, burn holes)
Pulled or cut stitches
Ensure backstitching is present
Hooks, D-Rings, Buckles, and Metal Parts
Hooks, D-Rings, Buckles, and Metal Parts
When inspecting the metal components on your fall harness, keep an eye out for any of the following, which indicate the harness may not be usable:
Damage
Distortion, grooves, dents, or bent components
Sharp edges, cracks, and burrs
Rust and corrosion
Evidence of heat damage (friction, welding splatter, sparks, burn holes)
Sticky springs
Bent tongues
Excessively worn or elongated tongue buckle holes
Lanyards and Lifelines
Lanyards and Lifelines
If you notice any of these signs that your lanyard or lifeline may need repair or replacing, notify your supervisor/team leader and do not use:
Cuts, burns, tears, or fraying
Abrasion
Knots
Excessive soiling
Chemical or solvent damage
UV damage (discoloration), mildew, or rot
Evidence of heat damage (friction, welding splatter, sparks, burn holes)
Distortion of housing
Ensure spring tension allows for retraction and retention
Ensure indicator for activation and deployment is working
Snap Hooks
Snap Hooks
Inspect the snap hooks carefully, taking note of:
Excessive wear
Excessive dirt
Sharp edges
Cracks
Corrosion
Self-closing locking action
Impact Indicators – Impact indicators are extremely useful when inspecting safety lanyards. If a shock absorbing lanyard has been used in a fall arrest, the shock absorber will have been deployed and must not be used again.
Suspention Trauma & Rescue Plan
Suspention Trauma & Rescue Plan
Arresting a fall is not the last step to fall safety. A plan for rescuing suspended workers is essential. A worker's fall protection harness may keep them from hitting the ground, but they're not in the clear yet. Suspension trauma is often overlooked as a serious risk for workers at height.
Suspension trauma, also known as harness hang syndrome occurs after a fall even when the fall arrest system works properly. The worker's body weight places pressure on the harness straps, which can compress the veins, and cause blood to pool, in the lower extremities and reduce blood return to the worker's heart. This may result in serious damage to the brain, kidneys, and other organs. If the pressure is not reduced promptly, the worker can lose consciousness within minutes.
It's imperative to have a rescue plan in place whenever fall protection is in use. The rescue plan should account for the worker being unconscious. A rescue plan could be as simple as having ladders ready if the worker is not too high of the ground, or having a team of people capable of pulling the worker up, if there is a sufficient platform above. Remember to keep fall protection in mind for rescuers as well. The rescue plan has to be designed specifically for each situation. It needs to be considered before working at heights and needs to be communicated to everyone on site.
It’s not always easy, but suspended workers awaiting rescue can take some action to guard against injury. Preventative steps for suspended workers include:
Adopting a sitting position
Moving into a horizontal position as much as possible
Using legs to push off from a hard surface, keeping the muscles active
Pumping legs frequently to maintain blood flow and prevent venous pooling
Wrapping dangling rope around a foot and shifting body weight from the harness to the foot
After a rescue, some medical professionals suggest positioning the worker in a sitting position with the upper body supported. This should take place for at least 30 minutes before the worker can lie horizontally. The seated position prevents blood from rushing to the heart too quickly, which could cause ischemic heart failure or other injuries. They should also receive an evaluation by a healthcare professional after rescue. It’s not uncommon for the suspension to cause delayed internal effects, which can be difficult to identify at the site.
The fall harness is a critical lifeline. But the end goal isn’t just to catch you when you fall – it’s to get you safely back on your feet.
Donning and Adjusting The Harness
Donning and Adjusting The Harness
Orient the harness by holding the back D-ring and letting the harness hang, giving it a little shake so that everything falls into place. Undo all buckles and release straps. Make sure there are no twisted straps. Slip the straps over your shoulders and adjust the fit so that the D-ring is located in the middle of the back, between the shoulder blades. Since it’s difficult to see your back, it’s a good idea to have someone else check the straps and confirm that they are lying flat.
One at a time, connect the leg straps to the buckles on each hip and pull to tighten. Loose straps aren’t effective in the event of a fall, so they need to be snug against (but not too snug – you don’t want to prevent circulation). You should be able to fit an open hand between your leg and the strap, but nothing more. If the harness has a waist strap, it should be connected after the leg straps. Lastly, connect the chest strap mid-chest and tighten to keep the shoulder straps taut.
Once your harness is on, it’s important to adjust it to fit comfortably. Here are some key points to remember:
Back D-ring should be in between the shoulder blades
If any straps hang down after adjustment, use the loop keepers to keep them out of the way.
Shoulder straps should be the same length and pulled taut
Harness should feel snug but you should allow normal movement (e.g. squatting down, reaching up, bending over)
Other Safety Concerns
Other Safety Concerns
Fall Clearance Height: It is important to calculate the minimum vertical distance between the worker and the ground to ensure the worker does not hit ground during a fall. Total fall clearance distance calculations are simple to perform based on several factors, including:
The height at which the lanyard is anchored relative to the lower level;
Lanyard Length;
The distance the worker will travel as the deceleration device slows them down (determined by the type of shock absorber, most are 3.5 ft);
D-ring shift (assume 1 ft);
The worker's height to the D-ring (roughly 5 ft);
A safety factor (typically 2 ft).
Example: When working with a 6 ft lanyard, calculate the minimum height of the anchor point. Lanyard length = 6 ft; Deceleration distance = 3.5 feet; D-ring shift = 1 foot; Back D-ring height = 5 feet; Safety factor = 2 feet. The anchor point needs to be at least (6 + 3.5 + 1 + 5 + 2 =) 17.5 feet above the ground.
Swing Fall Hazards: A worker who falls while connected to an anchor (unless it is directly overhead) will swing back and forth like a pendulum. Workers can be seriously injured if they strike objects during a swing fall. It is important to evaluate the swing fall hazard at the edges where a worker might fall. This requires a dynamic assessment, i.e. it needs to be reconsidered whenever a worker moves location. Installing the anchorage point directly above the work area will help prevent injury.
D-ring position: Many harness models have multiple D-rings included for use with ladder safety devices or positioning systems. When using fall arrest protection it is crucial to connect the lanyard to the Dorsal D-ring. The D-ring should sit squarely between the worker's shoulder blades. If the back D-ring is in the wrong position, check that the harness is being worn correctly. If it pulls to one side or another, one side of the harness is overtightened. If it is too high or too low, the harness may not be the correct size. Ensure that the D-ring hasn't flipped. The lanyard should be clipped into the curved side, with the flat side secured beneath the stitching.
Lanyard Chafing: As the worker moves around, it is important to watch out for potential sharp edges or chafing points that could damage the lanyard. Avoid these areas or cover with chafing gear.
Compatibility: Often fall arrest systems are sold in kits, but when they're not, or if components from different manufacturers are pieced together, it is important that the different parts are checked for compatibility.
Lanyards used for personal fall protection are not to be used for any other purpose!
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