SAFETYWARNING: Background: 3. If a harness is inspected by an independant inspector, and
this inspector marks the harness with a marker, the following
should be considered: If however, the workers/users of the fall protection equipment
had had the necessary training and had been certified to ensure
this, then they would probably have the necessary knowledge and
experience to know where to attach their equipment. Sincerely Tradeassociation for Certified Rope Access.
Warning. Potentially dangerous marking of climbing harnesses.
Incidents.
Background.
Suggestions.
Facts.
Discussion.
Incidents:
We have recently received a couple of reports, indicating that
there might be a safety issue, associated with the markings, used
on many harnesses, intended for professional use
The markings are there to ensure, that inspections are done at
regular intervals and thus, that it is safe to use the harness.
One of the incidents included an actual accident, where the wire
sling broke, and the worher fell a couple of metres, luckily without
serious injury.
Two such harnesses and incidents with the attached marker can
be seen in the picture below:..:
In many countries, it is a requirement, that harnesses, intended
for professional use, are inspected regularly.
This a particularly true and relevant for harnesses, used for
fall protection, where the workers usually have not received much
-if any- training and where it is quite unusual and unlikely for
the workers to hold any knd of a certification to verify their
skills and knowledge.
In order to ensure that the inspections are done regularly and
on time, a marker might often be attached to the harness to give
information about, when the harness was last inspected and when
the next regular inspection is due.
It is this marker and the way it is mounted to the harness, that
might be a problem as an untrained/unaware worker might clip the
carabiner with attached fall protection equipment into this marker
by mistake.
The problem is particularly likely to occur, if...
- the marker is attached to the harness by a thin steel wire (which
in itself might be mistaken for an attachment point, especally
by workers, that have not received adequate training).
- the steel wire, used to attach the marker, is long enough to
allow a carabiner to be clipped into it
- the steel wire is attached to or in close proximity to one of
the standard attachment points of the harness, ie the sternal
or dorsal attachment points.
Suggestions:
To avoid mishaps or accidents, the following are our recommendations:
1. Make sure that any worker, using fall protection and fall arrest
equipment, have adequate training, knowledge, skills and experience
(and preferrably even certification to document this) to inspect
their own climbing equipment, including their harnesses, on a
day to day basis.
Most international rope access standards are certifying the workers
to be able to do this inspection
This has the added advantage of allowing daily inspections prior
to use and to avoid damaged harnesses to continue being used for
days, weeks and months until the next inspection.
2. If the workers have not received formal training and passed
a relevant certification to verify, that they have the required
training, knowledge, skills and knowledge to do proper inspection
of their own climbing gear, an external, independant, approved/certified
agent/inspector should be used to do regular inspections of all
relevant equipment and thus to ensure, that the equipment is safe
to use -at least at the time of the inspection.
- A. The attachment of the marker to the harness should be so
short, that it is not possble to clip anything into it.
- B. The marker should not be attached by a steel wire, as an
untrained and inexperienced person might mistakenly assume this
to be a safe attachment point.
Alternatively a plastic strip might be used.
- C. The marker should not be attached to or near any point of
the harness, used for attachments of safety equipment, like ie.
the the versal, the sternal or the dorsal attachment points or
even the side loops. As a suggestion, the marker could be attached
to one of the leg loops.
Facts:
It is a fact, that fatal falls to a lower level accounted for 40 percent of fatal
work injuries in the private construction industry in 2015.
It is also a fact, that falls from roofs accounted for one third of fall-related construction
fatalities from 1992-2009.
It is also a fact, that more than 80 percent of these fatal falls ocurred from 15 feet
or lower.
So it is evident, that there is an extreme room for improvement,
when it comes to decreasing the number of fatal fall accidents
by improving safety practices.
As a trade association for certified rope access, we are firmly
convinced by both experience and objective facts:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/riddor-notification.htm
and:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/tables/index.htm#riddor
that the best way to increase safety and decrease the number of
fatal injuries is systematic training, preferably associated with
a certification to document that fact for all workers involved
with the use of fall protection systems and -equipment.
Discussion:
For workers working with industrial climbing (rope access), the
standard today is, that you are/must be certified by internationally
acknowledged certification systems, so this is not where the real
problem is.
The real problem seems to lie with workers who occassionally use
fall protection and fall restraint equipment to protect them from
falls.
They often haven't received any formal training, have not passed
any certifications and are usually completely without experience
in the safe use of fall protection equipment.
At the same time, there is the very unfortunate but common misconception-
that safety primarily has to do with the equipment and not with
the users of the equipment.
This also seems to be the case here.
In an attempt to increase safety for some relatively inexperienced
and untrained users of fall protection equipmment, it has seemingly
been decided, that harnesses should be inspected regularly by
an independant party.
Also they could have been trained and certified to be able to
inspect their fall protection equipment.
It is our hope, that this fact and understanding will gradually
find its way into the industry, so a major part of all the unnecessary
fall related incidents and accidents can be avoided in the future.
BARA
8th of november, 2017.
www.bara.dk
info@bara.dk