Fall Protection

(Fall Arrest vs. Fall Restraint)
2012 Grain Entrapment Prevention Symposium

Jeffrey D. Decker
The GSI Group, LLC
Assumption, IL
• Fatalities from Falls #2 in Grain Industry

• A body in free fall can travel 4 feet in 0.5 seconds

• A body in free fall can travel 16 feet in 1 second

• A body in free fall can travel 64 feet in 2 seconds 

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Falls are among the most common causes of serious work-related
injuries and deaths. Employers must take measures in their workplaces
to prevent employees from falling off overhead platforms, elevated work
stations or into holes in the floor and walls.
To prevent employees from being injured from falls, employers must:
•Guard every floor hole into which a worker can accidentally walk by use of a railing and toeboard or a floor hole cover.
•Provide a guardrail and toeboard around every open-sided platform, floor or runway that is 4 feet or higher off the ground or next level.
•Regardless of height, if a worker can fall into or onto dangerous machines or equipment (such as a vat of acid or a conveyor belt), employers must
provide guardrails and toeboards to prevent workers from falling and getting injured.
•Other means of fall protection that may be required on certain jobs include safety harness and line, safety nets, stair railings and handrails.

OSHA requires employers to:

•Provide working conditions that are free of known dangers.
•Keep floors in work areas in a clean and sanitary condition.
•Select and provide required personal protective equipment at no cost to workers.
•Train workers about job hazards in a language that they can understand.
"Lifeline" means a component consisting of a flexible line for 
connection to an anchorage at one end to hang vertically (vertical 
lifeline), or for connection to anchorages at both ends to stretch 
horizontally (horizontal lifeline), and which serves as a means for 
connecting other components of a personal fall arrest system to the 
anchorage.

"Personal fall arrest system" means a system used to arrest an 
employee in a fall from a working level. It consists of an anchorage, 
connectors, a body belt or body harness and may include a lanyard, 
deceleration device, lifeline, or suitable combinations of these.

“Fall restraint system” means a fall protection system that prevents 
the user from falling any distance. The system is comprised of either a 
body belt or body harness, along with an anchorage, connectors and 
other necessary equipment. The other components typically include a 
lanyard, and may also include a lifeline and other devices.
 Fall Arrest System
• Parts of a fall arrest system
1. Body Harness
2. Attachment Location
3. Vertical Lifeline / Lanyard
4. Webbing
5. Anchorage Point
6. Horizontal Lifeline
7. Connectors

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Fall Arrest Diagram

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"Deceleration distance" means the additional vertical distance a falling 
employee travels, excluding lifeline elongation and free fall distance, 
before stopping, from the point at which the deceleration device 
begins to operate. It is measured as the distance between the location 
of an employee's body belt or body harness attachment point at the 
moment of activation (at the onset of fall arrest forces) of the 
deceleration device during a fall, and the location of that attachment 
point after the employee comes to a full stop.
arrests the fall.
"Free fall" means the act of falling before the personal fall arrest 
system begins to apply force to arrest the fall.

"Free fall distance" means the vertical displacement of the fall arrest 
attachment point on the employee's body belt or body harness 
between onset of the fall and just before the system begins to apply 
force to arrest the fall. This distance excludes deceleration distance, 
lifeline and lanyard elongation but include any deceleration device 
slide distance or self‐retracting lifeline/lanyard extension before they 
operate and fall arrest forces occur.

"Lanyard" means a flexible line of rope, wire rope, or strap which is 
used to secure the body belt or body harness to a deceleration device, 
lifeline, or anchorage.
"Rope grab" means a deceleration device which travels on a lifeline 
and automatically frictionally engages the lifeline and locks so as to 
arrest the fall of an employee. A rope grab usually employs the 
principle of inertial locking, cam/lever locking, or both.

"Self‐retracting lifeline/lanyard" means a deceleration device which 
contains a drum wound line which may be slowly extracted from, or 
retracted onto, the drum under slight tension during normal employee 
movement, and which, after onset of a fall, automatically locks the 
drum and arrests the fall.

"Tie‐off” means the act of an employee, wearing personal fall 
protection equipment, connecting directly or indirectly to an 
anchorage. It also means the condition of an employee being 
connected to an anchorage.
Auto-Locking Lifelines
Cable/Pipe Slides
Full Body Harness – Class III

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Top Guard System
“Kootenay” Knot Passing Pulley
Collar Attachment Bracket
Installation at Peak
Installation at Eave
Beam Anchor Bracket
Beam Anchor Bracket
Beam Bracket Mounted
“Clothes Line”
"Anchorage" means a secure point of attachment for lifelines, lanyards 
or deceleration devices, and which is independent of the means of 
supporting or suspending the employee.

"Body belt" means a strap with means both for securing it about the 
waist and for attaching it to a lanyard. lifeline, or deceleration device.

"Body harness" means a design of straps which may be secured about 
the employee in a manner to distribute the fall arrest forces over at 
least the thighs, pelvis. waist, chest and shoulders with means for 
attaching it,to other components of a personal fall arrest system.

"Deceleration device" means any mechanism, such as a rope grab, 
ripstitch lanyard, specially woven lanyard, tearing or deforming 
lanyard, or automatic self retracting‐lifeline/lanyard, which serves to 
dissipate a substantial amount of energy during a fall arrest, or 
otherwise limits the energy imposed on an employee during fall 
arrest.
Overhead Anchor Point
Anchor/Tie-Off Point
Rope Wrap Anchorage
Davit Arm
Aspen Lift
 OSHA 1926.503
• 1926.503(a)(1)
• The employer shall provide a training program 
for each employee who might be exposed to 
fall hazards. The program shall enable each 
employee to recognize the hazards of falling 
and shall train each employee in the 
procedures to be followed in order to 
minimize these hazards.

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Questions?
Thank You!