Personal Fall Arrest Systems

 

 

A Personal fall arrest system is required when working at height levels with an unprotected side or edge. When it is not possible to provide a safe working platform, i.e. secured full deck board with guardrails including toe guards and means of safe access and there is risk of fall from height, then use of personal fall arrest or personal fall protection equipment is mandatory.

Appropriate connectors assembly along with full body harness required for each work shall be determined based on the level of exposure, nature of work, type of roof/surface/platform, etc. and shall be listed in the permit to work.
Generally, a personal fall arrest systems consist of anchors (connector), full body harness and lanyard with shock absorber.

Regulations – Personal fall arrest system
OSHA 29 CFR 1926.502 gives guidelines on Fall protection systems criteria and practices.
Body belts are not acceptable as part of personal fall arrest system according to OSHA 29 CFR 1926.502(b) because they can cause serious injury during fall.
When workers are exposed to fall of 6 feet or more to a lower level, they must wear personal fall arrest. Personal fall arrest system must be designed and setup according to OSHA 29 CFR 1926.502 (d)(16)(iii

Safe work practices and controls
1. Plan and organize the work in advance through the work permit system and the Job Safety Analysis to assess the requirement of personal fall protection system.
2. Make sure, all personal protective equipment used for working is inspected before use.
3. Workers must be trained in the use of personal fall arrest equipment and must work under the constant supervision of a competent person.
4. Workers with health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, psychosis, epilepsy, or one of these diseases should be considered unfit.
5. It is very important to calculate the proper length of lanyard, anchorage position and the distance to the lower level i.e. fall clearance distance to prevent contact with lower surface in the event of fall.
6. The pendulum effect must be predicted for the fallen worker so that it cannot be hit on the nearby structure. There anchor point must be above the work area.
8. A personal fall arrest system includes an anchorage (where the lanyard’s snap hook is attached), Full body harness and connector i.e. lanyard with shock absorber or lifeline. Connector couples the body harness to the anchorage. Lifeline may be self-retractive type or with deceleration device.
9. How to wear full body safety harness properly:
- Before use, inspect your harness for any damaged straps, buckles, D-ring and lines. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions and keep in mind that most of the harness are withstanding 140 kg load.
- Hold the harness by D-ring in your right hand and shake it to allow all straps to hang down. If any strap i.e. chest, thighs or waist are already buckled then unbuckle them before wearing.
- Slip straps over shoulders and ensure the D-ring of harness at center i.e. between the worker’s shoulder blades. Lanyard should be attached to the D-ring.
- Adjust the harness to fit comfortably. Make sure all straps are fastened and adjusted correctly.
- The leg straps should be adjusted until they are comfortable, its should not be so tight, to check it put the palm of hand into the straps across the thighs so that it should be comfortably fitted. There should be a gap of about one inch between your thighs and straps. Connect waist strap after leg straps.
- Ensure shock absorber fitted with lanyard
10. Lanyard anchor must be secured with anchorage point which should be strong enough to withstand the load of worker with safety margin. During roofing work, do not attach anchors to sheathing, single trusses or guardrails as these may not designed or strong enough to hold the load of falling workers. Anchors can be attached to a structural member or truss member.
11. The lifeline can be used to move from one point to another. A horizontal lifeline can be attached to the overhead structure which helps the uninterrupted protection while working. Self-retracting lifelines enable greater horizontal and vertical mobility than traditional 6-foot shock-absorbing lanyards.
12. Fall protection system can be combined with safety warning line system or with safety monitoring system.
13. All workers must know about what to do in the event of emergency i.e. fall. In case of emergency fall,
- ask for help,
- try to regain nearest access to the structure, try to place your legs on structure to relax your weight on harness.
- Try to pump your legs frequently to activate muscles and reduce the risk of venous buildup. Support points can be used to relieve pressure, delay symptoms and support muscle pumping.
- Using Suspension Trauma Straps, which are a pair of straps, allows you to get up to relax your leg muscles by removing the load and restoring blood circulation until help arrives. When a worker falls and rests, he unwinds the straps, hooks them, and presses his weight against the straps.

The consequences of failure of a Personal Fall Arrest System (PFAS) can be serious, therefore proper selection, inspection and training for workers is very important before use. Working at height without a proper work platform and without guard railings is the most dangerous job because it presents a high risk of serious injury.

This information is provided by Assurance Agency https:www.assuranceagency.com