133: The role of fall arrest and fall restraint in fall hazards

Fall restraint and fall arrest are personal safety equipment which used as a fall protection system and used to prevent personnel from falling or stop them while falling without severe injuries.

• Fall restraint system keeps the worker within a safe distance from the edges (fall hazard) to prevent the fall by limiting the movement.
• Fall arrest system will catch and stop the worker in the case of a fall or slip.

Fall protection solutions:

1. Fall elimination: finding a way to do the job without working at elevation.
2. Fall prevention
   • Fall guarding: using barricades to prevent from falling
   • Fall restraint: preventing from approaching an edges (e.g. with fall restraint lanyard)
3. Administrative controls: through safety supervisor, safety signs and warnings
4. Fall arrest: to stop someone who has fallen (e.g. rope fall protection)

Fall arrest and fall restraint application:

1. Work at height (elevation)
2. Work at steep surface
3. Work near any edge (pit / hole)

Fall arrest and fall restraint system components:

1. Anchor point
2. Safety lanyard or self-retracting lifeline
3. Safety harness

Related standards:

1. OSHA
2. ANSI
3. EN 354: Lanyards (Fall arrest)
4. EN 355: Energy absorbers (Lanyard shock absorbers and tear web sections)
5. EN 358: Work positioning systems (A combination of components) - It’s not for fall arrest
6. EN 360: Retractable type
7. EN 361: Full body Harnesses (It’s not a belt)
8. EN 362: Connectors (Carabiners, hooks etc.)
9. EN 363: Fall arrest systems (A combination of components) - for fall arrest
10. ISO9001: Flexible lifeline systems