Recent statistics tell us over 222,000 people are injured each year in North America while using ladders. Most of these injuries can be prevented with the right safety precautions. Safety should be a top priority for your place of business, no matter the industry. Potential workplace risks can range from fires to electrical hazards to chemical exposures. However, falls are one of the top sources of injuries in the workplace. Slips and falls can happen to just about anyone, whether it’s from spillage on the floor or working from heights. Fall protection products are essential in helping prevent and mitigate the effects of an accident. Safety equipment like guardrails, harnesses, netting systems and body belts can help keep your employees secure and, as a result, can help reduce accidents. In addition, fall arrest systems are required by OSHA for workers on construction sites that are exposed to vertical drops of 6 feet or more. Put safety first with the right fall protection products and equipment.

Fall protection system types:

With complete fall protection in mind, Pacific Rigging Loft, Inc. stocks a wide variety of safety harnesses, lanyards, self-retracting lifelines, and grabs. Depending on the purpose they serve, and the activities they are used for, OSHA recommends different type of fall safety equipment:

• Body belts restrain persons working in hazardous positions to reduce fall risk. They are for positioning only, so they cannot replace fall arrest systems.
• Chest harnesses can be used in environments with limited fall hazard that does not include vertical free fall, or for retrieval of persons from tanks, bins, or narrow spaces.
• Full body harnesses have the power to arrest the most dangerous falls.
• Suspension belts can be used to support workers needing to adjust their position vertically or to perform various activities while hanging.
• Rope lanyards are used as restraint means due to their elastic properties.
• Web lanyards are ideal for work environments with fall hazards under 2 feet.
• Cable lanyards work best in hot or corrosive environments but should be backed up by shock absorbing systems.
• Shock absorbers reduce fall arresting forces and fall injury risks.
• Rope grabs are deceleration devices travelling on lifelines, allowing safe ascension and descent of the worker or locking of the lifeline in case of fall.
• Retractable lifelines ensure fall protection and mobility in high fall hazard areas.
• Safety nets are best used for projects where there are no temporary floors or scaffolds, and the fall distance is higher than 25 feet.
• Rails can be used on fixed ladders and curved surfaces, to prevent falls.

Not sure which of these systems would work best for your team or whether the one you intend to use meets OSHA requirements? Please contact a fall safety equipment specialist at Pacific Rigging Loft, Inc. who will guide you to the proper fall safety equipment for your needs.

Fall restraint, fall arrest and the hierarchy of fall protection:

It is generally accepted by governing bodies that the hierarchy of fall protection should provide the starting point for considering what type of fall protection system is required. A safety hierarchy identifies the safest possible solution to a hazard. Obviously eliminating the hazard is always the best solution. The three different kinds of fall protection are passive, fall restraint and fall arrest.

1. Eliminate the risk

Avoid work at height where possible or locate plant and equipment in safe locations where there is no risk of a fall. Guardrails, skylight screens and other passive forms of fall protection are the safest and most effective forms of protection if you cannot eliminate the hazard altogether.

2. Guard the hazard

When working at height is essential, ensure that workers are not exposed to unnecessary risks, consider providing a parapet or guardrail (such as VersiRail) to eliminate the fall hazard. If you cannot protect a hazard passively (guardrail, skylight screens, etc…), we then recommend working in restraint. Fall restraint means that the person is tied off in such a way that they cannot get to the roof edge or other fall hazard.

3. Protect the worker

Where it is not possible to eliminate the risk of falling, use a suitable fall protection system to minimize the consequences of a fall. This can be achieved with a fall arrest or fall restraint system–two completely different entities. In essence, a fall restraint system prevents workers from reaching a hazard, while a fall arrest system allows workers to reach a hazard and then protects them if they should fall. If restraint is not possible, then the last resort is fall arrest. Fall arrest products stop a fall that is already happening. Fall arrest can still be dangerous to the employee and requires diligent training and rescue planning.