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Workplace Safety: Falls from Heights

Posted on: December 06, 2014 Category: Fall Protection, Safety, Tags: fall arrest, fall protection, fall protection system, fall restraint, falls from heights, travel restraint, working at heights

The recent incident involving the death of a Scottish worker who fell from an offshore oil rig has put the seriousness of preventing falls from height at the forefront. The Ministry of Labour’s policy, The Regulation for Construction Projects states that a worker must be given protection when exposed to any of the following hazards:

falling from a height of more than 3 metres (approx. 10 feet);
falling into operating machinery;
falling into water or another liquid;
falling into or onto a hazardous substance or object;
falling through an opening in a work surface.

Accidents caused by falls could be fatal but are preventable through the use of fall protection systems. There are two types of fall protection: fall restraint and fall arrest systems.

Fall Restraint
Fall restraint or travel-restraint system is a type of fall arrest system that has been designed to limit a worker’s fall to a specified distance or from reaching an unguarded edge. The system consists of a lanyard, a lifeline and a safety harness or belt.

Fall Arrestfall arrest system
The fall arrest system is an assembly of components joined together so that when the assembly is connected to a fixed support, it is capable of arresting a worker’s fall. Fall arrest systems must keep a worker from hitting the ground, the level below, or other objects below. A fall arrest system consists of a full-body harness, a lanyard, and a shock absorber.

Components
The following are the standard components of a fall protection system (taken from the Ministry of Labour’s Regulation for Construction Projects):

Full Body Harness
A device that can arrest an accidental vertical or near vertical fall of a worker and which can guide and distribute the impact forces of the fall by means of leg and shoulder strap supports and an upper dorsal suspension assembly which, after the arrest, will not by itself permit the release or further lowering of the worker.

Lanyard
Flexible line of rope, wire rope, or strap which generally has a connector at each end for connecting the body belt or body harness to a deceleration device, lifeline, or anchorage.

Lifeline
A flexible line for connection to an anchorage at one end to suspend vertically (vertical lifeline), or for connection to anchorages at both ends to stretch horizontally (horizontal lifeline), and which serves as a means for connecting other components of a personal fall arrest system to the anchorage.

Full Body Harness or Belt
A device that can arrest an accidental vertical or near vertical fall of a worker and which can guide and distribute the impact forces of the fall by means of leg and shoulder strap supports and an upper dorsal suspension assembly which, after the arrest, will not by itself permit the release or further lowering of the worker.

Shock Absorber
A shock absorber is a fall protection component which slows and cushions a fall. It is often made of “tear webbing” with specific stitch patterns that absorb the force of impacts.

Fall protection is more effective when employers provide the proper training to their workers on how to use safety equipment for particular tasks.

Image credit: http://core1safety.com/images/PersonalFallPro.gif

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