This safety harness training is designed to provide users with users with the knowledge they require to conduct harness and lanyard inspections. Anyone who is required to conduct safety harness inspections in the workplace must be suitably competent to do so. This includes having the knowledge and experience to understand the equipment and how it works. It means being able to identify the types of faults that lead to automatic fail, and what to do in such scenarios.
Conducting such inspections is a legal requirement.
Some of the most common, and devastating workplace injuries are related to falls from height. In fact, they accounted for some 25% of occupational fatalities over a five-year period, and as much as 8% of non-fatal injuries.
One of the prime causes of such accidents is a failure of equipment, often due to degradation. During it’s lifetime, fall arrest equipment may be exposed to abuse, for instance, from improper use, or excessive loading, which may cause it to fail. It will also see a degree of general wear-and-tear, which may result in edge or surface damage. If equipment is used during a fall, it will become stressed, and lose its effectiveness for future incidents.
Additionally, fallibility is not obvious. Research has demonstrated that there is no clear line between when equipment is safe to use and when it is not. Even a cut as small as 1mm on the edge of a lanyard can result in as much as a 40% loss in strength. So, the safest measure is to scrutinise the equipment we use and scrap any component that we have doubts about.
