2023 Copyright Safewaze
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Fall Clearance:
There must be sufficient clearance below the anchorage connector to arrest a fall before the user
strikes the ground or an obstruction. When calculating fall clearance, account for a MINIMUM 2’ safety factor,
deceleration distance, user height, length of lanyard/SRL, and all other applicable factors. (See Figure 1)
Determining fall clearance is critical in understanding the correct connecting device to use. The lower the clearance
height, the less options available to connect to the anchor point with. To Determine Fall Clearance several factors must
be considered:
Length of Anchorage connector (LA)
Length of Connecting device (LC)
Maximum Arrest Distance of connecting device (MAD)
Height of Worker (HW)
Safety Factor (SF) - (Includes harness stretch, typically 2’)
Distance from Anchor Point to next closest obstruction (DAP)
Using the above information Fall Clearance (FC) can be determined with the following formula
FC (from anchor point)=LA+LC+MAD+HW+SF
5.1 DETERMINE REQUIRED FALL CLEARANCE
Safety factor
(2’ total)
***Diagram shown is an example fall clear-
ance calculation ONLY.
For all applications: worker weight capacity range
(including all clothing, tools, and equipment) is 130-310 lbs. per ANSI Z359.18-2017
Weight capacity per OSHA is up to 420 lbs.
Lanyard Length
(6’ Total)
Deceleration
distance (4’ total)
Worker Height
(6’ average)
Required
distance
from
Anchorage
(18’ total)
Fall Clearance Diagram
FIGURE 1- DETERMINE REQUIRED FALL CLEARANCE
