Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)
It is of utmost importance in the design of
personal fall arrest systems to understand
the nature and type of work being performed
in an area prior to the installation of fall
protection equipment. Anchorages should
be located such that they are directly
overhead (or as much so as possible) to
help reduce or eliminate the possibility of a
swing fall. Separate anchorages must be
provided for each individual worker in an
area, and only one worker should be
attached to an anchorage at any one time. If
several workers are to be in an area at a
given time, the anchorages should be
placed so that the potential for entangling
the vertical lifelines is minimal.
Care should also be used in selecting a
harness. Harnesses with sewn down back
pads can limit as much as 1 ft. of back pad
slippage during fall arrest, giving additional
safety. If the system will be used where a
worker could encounter a head first free-fall,
a non-secured back pad can slide down the
webbing to the small of the back, allowing
the worker to fall out of the harness through
the top by allowing the harness straps to slip
over the shoulders. For this reason, we
recommend the use of full body, crossover or
pullover type harness with sewn down back
pads for all installations. The use of body
belts as fall arrest anchorages is not allowed
under OSHA guidelines.
