Personal Fall Protection - Do I really need it?

Today in this blog we will be talking about personal fall protection equipment, up to what extent is it important? Why shall we use it? And how it can save our lives? First of all, we need to understand what exactly fall protection is? It is actually a series of controls that either restrain or arrest you and the restraining would be you never actually get to the hazard, so a fall would never occur. An arrest is basically if a fall would occur, the arrest portion would prevent you from hitting on the ground. That is essentially what fall protection is.

 

Men wearing a Fall Protection working on a construction site 

We will talk and understand about the different types of fall protection. Let's begin with hierarchy of fall protection which shall be followed by the employers and workers to ensure their safety when working at height:

 

First comes elimination in the hierarchy of fall protection whether if we can eliminate being working at height, the first control is most preferable. However, if we cannot and work requires to be done at height, the second factor in hierarchy of fall protection is a passive way to control such as a guardrail or something preventing you from actually going toward the hazard. Third would be fall restraint, and so with restraint, it actually is preventing the worker from going toward the hazard by the use of anchor point and a connecting device, a connecting device that is measured to make sure that the worker does not reach the hazard. Next would be arrest, which means stopping in the event of a fall. It is actually stopping the worker from hitting the ground or any other object below. Last but not least is administrative controls that can actually be administered by a competent person, a detailed fall protection plan needs to be in place, essentially, the competent person is acting as a safety monitor.

 

When do you need to wear a personal fall protection? That would depend on the work that you are performing and significantly the hazard classification which is more important. If you are working at height of 1.8 meters or higher you absolutely need fall protection equipment.

 

Workers performing maintenance task on a steel bridge working with due safety protocols 

Know your ABC:

The employer and workers must know the ABC’s of fall protection, which are the components of a fall protection system. The ABC means A= Anchor point, what you're connected to, B= Body Harness, what you are actually wearing and C= Connecting Device. Those three working in conjunction are components of a fall protection system. People often ask does it matter what type of harness that they select and does the size of harness really matters? Two things to always take into consideration, is your body type and what industry you're working in, those two things will help you select what type of harness you are going to need in.

 

What do people get wrong most about fall protection? and that would be anchor points. Actually what they are anchored to and is it strong enough to hold them? Secondly, in identifying hazards. How many hazards are involved at working at height? And also swing fall. If I actually fall, am I going to swing and hit another object? And the last is fall distance. Most people do not really realize the height of themselves, the distance they're going to travel. Hopefully my today’s blog helped you understand more about personal fall protection and whether or not you need it. Please contact the author if you have any questions or if you are struggling to fill out your job safety analysis or your working at height risk assessment, I would be more than happy to help you out.