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Anti-fall Harness And Safety Equipment Buying Guide
When working from heights, it is essential to maintain safety with the proper fall safety protection equipment, lanyard, and dependable connectors like a carabiner when working from heights. Find the best anti-fall harness and safety devices for your needs.
How Important Is Fall Protection Equipment?
About a third of all construction accidents are a result of a fall. Once you begin to fall, your speed increases, increasing the risk of injury or death and reinforcing the need for strong and reliable safety gear. Fall protective equipment manufacturers are required to adhere to some strict safety standards before they can make their products available.
Workplaces that employ workers at heights are required to providing safety equipment such as nets, bucket lifts, scaffolding, platforms, or harnesses.
Safety Standards
In the United States, OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires that employers have a safe workplace to prevent fall-related accidents. OSHA requires fall protection to have an elevation of about 4 ft in any industrial workplace. Similarly, the elevation for the construction Job site should be 6ft, while shipyards are also expected to have an elevation of about 5ft.
Also, OSHA requires all safety standards and fall protection rules are adhered to when working with dangerous machinery and types of equipment regardless of the height.
Fall Protection Equipment
Harnesses that are intended to be used as a fall safety device are designed to be worn on the body and come in two types: fall protection safety harnesses and work-positioning safety harnesses.
Fall Protection Safety Harnesses
A fall protection safety harness is designed to provide protection in the event of a fall. It cannot be used as a work positioning system but is suitable for fall safety when working on roofs or relative heights.
Work- positioning Safety Harnesses
A work-positioning safety harness is made to keep the worker in a fixed-supported position with several attachment points. An example of such a harness would be a body harness and leg loops. The harness is lined with breathable foam. The shoulder strap is designed to prevent rubbing while distributing part of the weight from the belt that is worn over the shoulders.
Selecting The Right Harness
It could quite literally be a matter of life or death to make sure you choose the right harness for the job and height level. Some features to consider include:
Size
Adjustable harnesses typically range in size from Small to XL. If an even larger or small size is needed, it may require a special design request.
Buckles
Buckles come in different styles. Choose from either automatic, self-locking, and manual.
Comfort
When it comes to preventing a fall, comfort is a very important factor. Otherwise, the worker may be discouraged from wearing it. Harnesses that provide wide, larger strap and horizontal leg loops are the most comfortable to wear for long workdays. A drop seat or buttock pad will also add comfort.
Attachment Points
Safety harnesses have between 1 to 5 attachment points. The ventral and lateral points are made for work positioning, and the sternal and dorsal anchors are safety points intended to protect in case of a fall.
Sternal Point – Located on the front of the chest and used for attaching to a descending device, leaving part of the body free.
Ventral Point – Located at the front of the belt around the body’s center point of gravity to free up the arms and legs.
Dorsal Point – Located at the top of the back. This is the most efficient placement point to avoid spinal injuries. This attachment point is not suitable for work positioning and is uncomfortable if your work requires a seated position.
Lateral Point – Located just above the hips and used for tricky positions such as horizontal work positioning.
Tool Holders – Placement will depend on the type of tools. The tool holder is used for securing hanging tools when working at heights to keep fellow workers safe.
Select The Right Energy Absorber
It is important to pick the right energy absorber, and they are installed quickly between the harness and the anchor point. It is designed to cushion the impact of a fall and lessen shock injuries and comes in a variety of types.
Sternal Point – Located on the front of the chest and used for attaching to a descending device, leaving part of the body free.
Ventral Point – Located at the front of the belt around the body’s center point of gravity to free up the arms and legs.
Dorsal Point – Located at the top of the back. This is the most efficient placement point to avoid spinal injuries. This attachment point is not suitable for work positioning and is uncomfortable if your work requires a seated position.
Lateral Point – Located just above the hips and used for tricky positions such as horizontal work positioning.
Tool Holders – Placement will depend on the type of tools. The tool holder is used for securing hanging tools when working at heights to keep fellow workers safe.
Connection And Anchorage
Anchorage connectors are what connect the safety harness with the anchor. There is a wide array of options, but choosing the right safety harness is very important. Select the best option that allows for the most movement needed to do the work at heights that require safety measures. Depending on the work environment, there may be various types of anchor points, including an I beam, a concrete anchor, a permanent lifeline system, or a guardrail.
Carabiners – This is a metal loop that is made to connect quickly. Choose an aluminum carabiner with a twist lock for intensive work or a standard steel one with a screw lock. Keep in mind that if you go with the steel and screw lock, it will need to be locked manually.
Fall Protection Self retracting lifeline, Descenders, and Fall-Arrest Blocks – All made to allow moving vertically or horizontally across a surface.
Rope Braided Lifeline Rope – This rope is flexible but not as strong as a rope that is twisted which is stiffer but more durable. Combine strength with flexibility by choosing a thicker braided rope.
Lanyards – Choose from a Y lanyard that had one leg or a V lanyard that has two legs.
Scaffold Hook – A large locking carabiner used to attach to guardrails.
Personal Fall Protective Equipment PPE
While working from heights, fall safety gear is essential. However, it is also important to wear PPE such as a helmet, protective gloves, or safety shoes at all times.
