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The choice of the safest fall arrest or suspended access system depends of many parameters.
A competent person, as defined in Z359.0, establishes a risk assessment where he identifies the fall hazards.
A competent person can then recommend the adequate fall protection system for working safely at height.
The competent person, will submit to the Health & Safety manager or the building managment a solution that minimizes the risk of fall.
ANSI (American National Standard Institute) have therefore developped a fallprotection hierarchy in 5 steps:
Fall restraint systems are designed with specific-length lanyards. The end user can't reach the fall edge, hence the fall hazard is eliminated.
Fall Arrest equipment specifically describes systems that stop a fall.
The fall hazard exist, but it will be mitigated with the active fall protection system.
For fall arrest systems engineered as per Z359.6 the clearences for active fall arrest systems is precisely described in chapter 7 of the standard.
The calculation must be done by a competent person.
The clearance requirements shall account for:
The SafeAccess rigid rail is the recommended active fall arrest solution when the fall clearance is low.
A self retractable lanyard (SRL) can be used in ground / leading edge cofiguration (fall facteur 1 or 0), only if:
When a SRL is connected below the anchoring point of the harness, the fall distance may be increased.
A pendulum-like motion that occurs during and/or after a vertical fall. A swing fall results when an authorized person begins a fallfrom a position that is located horizontally away
from a fxed anchorage. ers can be seriously injured if they strike objects during a swing fall. Installing the anchorage point directly above the work area (i.e., connected to an overhead attachment point with sufficient strength) will help prevent injury. A pendulum fall may lead to a higher shock on the body when the fall is stopped.
The fall factor is the ratio between the height of the fall and the length of rope that is available to absorb that fall. The standard range for the fall factor is from f = 0 up to f = 2. A higher fall factor.
The competent person will always selectfall arrest solutions tha treduce the fall factor and hence the falling distance.
The standard Z359.1 and Z359.2 state that each fall arrest system must be inspected before each use by the end user. In addition a competent person, other than the user, must inspect at intervals of no more than one year.
The fall arrest system is used very intensively or that the environment is especially corrosive, then higher rate of inspections may be required.
For suspended access ASME/ANSI-A120.1-2014 also requires annual inspection.
Furthermore every 10 years, the system must be re tested by a Qualified Person.
The end user manual gives clear instructions for the estimated lifespan of a PPE or fall arrest system.
In addition a competent person inspects the equipment each year, to ensure it can be used further.
PPE equipment must be removed after the stop of the fall.
Engineered fall arrest and fall restraint systems must be inspected by a competent person with a max. intevral of 1 year.
The total lifetime of the product depends of the environment, the intensivity at which they are used, the storage conditions and the material itself.
UV, dust, corrisve agents can impact the lifetime of fall arrest equipment.
Most PPE on the market has a lifespan of 5 or 10 yearqs.
When not in use, teh products should be stored in a clean and dry storage cabinet and not be suject to UV's.
The fall arrest anchor points and lifelines of Fallprotec have a recommended lifetime of 20 years.
To make rope access on an anchorage, the end user must refer on OSHA 1910.27.
The anchor must withstand at leats 5000 pouds.
The anchor must be inspected annually by a competent person. It must be tested max. every 10 years by a qualified person.
The rescue should occur swiftly.
The suspension trauma may occur within 5 minutes.
Any rescue plan should foreseen a max. time of 15 minute to retreive the fallen person.
The carefull selection of the PPE and harness can reduce the compression of the inguinal area and hence reduce the risk of suspension trauma.
Automatic descenders with lifting pulley mau facilitate the rescue operations.
The dorsal anchoring point is the preffered connection point when working at height.
The sternal anchoring point should exclusively be used when climbing up ladders.
In USA, safety at height is regulated either in OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) or in ANSI (American National Standards Institute).
The OSHA standard 1910 "Walking working surfaces" obliges the employer to provide a safe means of access and egress to and from walking-working surfaces.
The standard ANSI Z359 is known as "The Fall Protection Code" and describes indetail Personnal Protective Equipment for wokr at height and engineered fall arrest systems.
The maximum weight of the end user depends how the PPE is rated.
The maximum capacity for fall arrest equipment is 310 lbs as stated in OSHA (29 CFR 1926.502, 29 CFR 1910.66). The end user should verify the marking or the user manual of the PPE before connecting to it.
When forking in active fall arrest application a force limiting device is mandatory.
The max. allowed impact force is 1800lbs.
It can be either a SRL with integrated energy absorber or a lanyard with integrated shock absorber as described in Z359.13.
When working in fall restraint configuration an energy absorbing device is not mandatory.
OSHA Construction Standard 1926.501 (b)(1) states that each employee on a walking/working surface (horizontal and vertical surface) with an unprotected side or edge which is 6 feet (1.8 m) or more above a lower level shall be protected from falling by the use of guardrail systems, safety net systems, or personal fall arrest systems.
OSHA Construction Standard 1926.501 (b)(1) states that each employee on a walking/working surface (horizontal and vertical surface) with an unprotected side or edge which is 6 feet (1.8 m) or more above a lower level shall be protected from falling by the use of guardrail systems, safety net systems, or personal fall arrest systems.
The choice of the engineered fall protection lifeline depends of:
Fallprotec has developped a wide range of engineered fall protection system to adapt to every situation.
An inspection of the Securope HLL must be carried out by a qualified person. This person will determine which part of the system must be replaced.
Work at height is work in any place where, if precautions were not taken, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury. You are working at height if you:
Passive protection is equipment that does not require any action from the person working at height to be effective. Examples are permanent or temporary guardrails, scissor lifts and tower scaffolds.
Active fallprotection requires Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to be effective. An example is putting on a safety harness correctly and connecting it, via an energy-absorbing lanyard, to a suitable anchor point.
To work at height, you must be an "authorized person".
The authorized person must have followed a training as described in Z359.2
The training must be conducted at least every two years.
Prior to the access at height a competent person must have done a risk assessment where he identified the predicabke hazards and has taken the corrective measures to eliminate them.
The competent person may also supervise the selection, installation, use and inspection of non-certified anchorages in jurisdictions where this is permitted and verify that current systems are in compliance with applicable standards.
A qualified person will verify by calculation or by testing the proper resistance of the hoist structure.
The qualified person will follow the design rules of Z359.6 and ensure the host structure withstands with a minimum safety coefficient of 2.
The standard Z359.2 requires that fall protection equipment is inspected at least annually and that the inspection is documented.
If a logbook is not available on site, it becomes difficult to recertify an existing installation.
In certain cases a qualified person will carry out static tests on site to verify the resistance of the anchorages.
Anchorage systems shall be inspected by the authorized person prior to each use and by a qualified person or competent person at least annually in accordance with the manufacturers or qualified person’s instructions.
There is no safe distance to the edge of a roof, so you will need fall protection at all times. In addition, fragile roofs always carry the possibility of breaking. Collective or personnal fall protection systems must therefore always be integrated in the building design according to roof edge protection regulations.
The duration of a project depends of the complexity.
Certain simple projects can be carried out in a week, while more complex jobs take several months.
The International Building Code (IBC) is the foundation of the complete Family of International Codes®. It is an essential tool to preserve public health and safety that provides safeguards from hazards associated with the built environment.
OSHA is a division of the U.S. Department of Labor charged with setting and enforcing safety regulations in the workplace. OSHA regulations are governing law and therefore mandatory in nature, meaning all workplaces/employers must comply. Those who do not comply may face serious consequences, including citations and hefty fines.
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems and personnel in the United States.
The competent person shall be responsible for the immediate supervision, implementation, and monitoring of the managed fall protection program. His task is to:
A personnal fall arrest equipment is is a complete collection of equipments and components that is designed to restrain or stop a fall.
For example: harness, carabiners, lanyards with integrated shock absorber
The qualified person may combine equipment of Fallprotec and other brands under their sole responsability.
After carefully analysing the technical documentation and test reports of Fallprotec and other provider, they may decide of certain product combination.
In that case the qualifided person (as defined in Z359.2) will submit a declaration of conformity and become sole responsible for the entire system.
The standard ANSI Z359.13 ensures that the maximum impact force on the end user is 18000 lbs.
All personnal Energy absorbers of Fallprotec limit the max. impact force to max. 1320 lbs.
A lifeline consists of a flexible or rigid line for connection to an anchorage at one end to hang vertically (vertical lifeline), or for connection to anchorages at both ends and with or without intermediate anchors to stretch horizontally (horizontal lifeline), and which serves as a means for connecting other components of a personal fall arrest system to the anchorage.
The choice of rigid rail lifeline over a cable lifeline depends on several factors.
If the fall clearnce is limited (14' for example), then Fallprotec recommends rail.
If the system is used intensively (truck loading bay for example), Fallprotec recommends rail.
If the environment is very corrosive, then the Securope horizontal lifeline made of stainless steel is more suitable than the aluminum rail.
The Fallprotec range can be retroffited on old buildings.
A qualified person will assess the resistance of the host structure to ensure it can withstand the loads in case of a fall.
While safety is always our top priority, we understand the requirements of elegant looks. We thus provide a variety of solutions that can powder coated, conceiled or temporary to make it invisible for visitors or match the aesthetics of the building.
We are active nationwide. We will gladly liasie you with the closest installer.
Don no hesitate to call us or write via our contact page.
The ladders equipped with vertical fall arrest systems, may be certified for multi-users. In that case each user must secure his tools to avoid them falling on the person climbing below
There is no unique answer to this question. People are known to have survived falls from great heights, while a very short fall can cause important harm. Injuries resulting of a fall depend on many factors, which is why there is no minimum limit to what is considered working at heights.
