One of the biggest dangers of working in an environment where workers operate at great heights, is falling down from these heights. According to OSHA, falls were the leading cause of worker deaths on construction sites; this essentially means that ‘falls’ are a huge problem and workers need to make sure they are doing everything they can to protect themselves from falling from a height. While they need to be aware of all the safety procedures that will help them in case of a fall, they must also be aware of and use all the various fall protection products available on the market. Let’s us discuss some of these products.
1. Full Body Harness
If there is a clear and present danger of falling from a height when you are performing certain tasks, it’s always a good idea to use personal fall protection equipment like a full body harness. These harnesses are a much better bet than safety belts. This is because the force of impact, if and when, you fall, is distributed all over the body. The straps are worn round the shoulders, chest and legs, which means the whole body bears the brunt of the fall arrest force when you fall. There are various types of harnesses available on the market so you need to pick a harness as per your needs and requirements. If your job involves climbing heights, the use of climbing harnesses is a good idea, and if you are working on construction sites, then construction harnesses will be a good idea and so on and so forth.
2. Lanyards
The use of a full body harness or safety belt is incomplete without a lanyard. It is a piece of fall protection equipment that could be a wire rope, webbing, or synthetic rope that connects the body harness to the anchorage. As can be imagined, the use of the right lanyard is crucial for protecting you against falls. One of the keys to making efficient use of lanyards is to keep the length of lanyard as short as possible. So, even if you fall, you only fall a short distance. Something else that you need to take into consideration is that the force exherted on your body while arresting your fall, can be handled by your body. In spite of the excellent body harness you are using, there is a good chance that the arrest force is something that your body might not be able to handle. This is why it’s important that you keep the arrest force at safe levels, at all times.
3. Anchorage or Anchor Points
This equipment plays a very important role in the fall arrest system. That’s where you attach your lanyard to arrest your fall. Many a times, rigging personnel choose the very best of lanyard and body harness system, but don’t give as much importance to the anchorage. This is a cardinal error because it this secure attachment is the very foundation of your fall arrest system. You ignore it at your own risk. OSHA recommends that the anchor point is able to support a minimum weight of 500 pounds per person attached. You don’t want the anchor point to come out of its mooring if and when you fall. This is also the reason why you must choose only the most appropriate point for your anchorage. This could be parts of the structure specifically designated for anchor points or could even be large sized eye bolts or an I-beam or something else. Get a safety expert into the act to identify the right placement of anchor points.
4. Carabiners
Carabiners are connectors and they ensure that the users are connected to fall arrest system at all times, while performing their designated tasks. OSHA recommends that carabiners used in industrial settings must have a minimum breaking strength of 5,000 lbs. More importantly, this fall protection equipment must be regularly inspected to check for damage and whether its locking mechanism is working seamlessly. The use of high quality carabiners is crucial for protecting you from a fall and actually acts as a bridge between your full body harness and the lanyard connected to an anchor point.
The Wrap
Whether it’s a lanyard, full body harness, anchorage, carabiner or something else, there is absolutely no doubt every one of these fall protection equipment is an absolute must-use, if you want to protect yourselves in case you slip and fall from a height at your workplace. Its’ also important that you are able to work with only the most high quality construction equipment that has been built by the most reputed manufacturers in the niche and which adheres to all the OSHA standards. After all, when it’s a question of personal safety, no compromises must be made, at all.