Personal fall arrest system

A personal fall arrest system is designed to safely secure a person to a specified anchorage point. The purpose of the system is to prevent the person from falling from height. It is designed in such a way that falling whilst working at height is totally prevented or safely arrested. This equipment has been designed to be comfortable for all day wear.

The anchorage point must have a static resistance of less than 10kN during three minutes. It should be located high enough to avoid any contact with a lower level should the worker fall and it should be as vertical as possible to the actual working place. The anchorage connector is used to join the immediate attachment to the anchorage point = webbing strap, steel sling. It should be adapted to the anchorage point and have a minimum static resistance of 15kN for 3 minutes.

Full body harness is the personal protective equipment that has to be worn by the worker at all times when working at height. The role of the harness is to hold the worker safely and securely should a fall occur and prevent them from sustaining an injury and slipping from the harness. The full body harness is the safest form of protective wear for use in fall arrest applications. Each anchorage point on the harness should have a static resistance >15kN for 3 minutes.

The ING device is the absolute critical link that joins the harness to the anchorage point or connector. Its role is to limit the free fall of the worker and should be selected based on work to be performed and the work environment. The potential fall distance must be calculated to determine the type of intermediate attachment to be used. Individually these components will not provide protection from a fall. Used properly in conjunction with each other, however, they form a personal Fall Arrest System that becomes vitally important to safety on the job site and the overall fall protection programme.