HARNESS

TRAINING &
SAFETY
 The Safety Harness
• The safety harness
is usually made of
webbing

• You step into it and

pull it over your
shoulders and
around your chest
You should have
• It is equipped with overalls on when
a lanyard for wearing one
attaching to an
anchor point
Harness Description
Why We Wear Them

To stop you from falling

and to save you from
being seriously injured
or killed when working
at height.
 Where We Wear Them
•Safety harnesses can be worn in
several places, including:

•Mobile Lifting Platforms

•Gantries

•Roofs

•Hard to Reach Places

 •Who Can’t Wear Them

•Anybody who has:

•Cardiovascular disease

•Respiratory disease

•A pre-existing injury

•Working restrictions
 Pre-use Inspection

•Inspect your safety harness before using it.

•Check for:

• Worn, brittle or hard spots

• Worn or broken stitching

• Cuts, cracks or broken fibres

•Loose rivets

• Worn buckles, hooks, rollers, tongues, D-

rings etc.

Do not use the safety harness if you find a

defect

Attach a label to it and report it to your

supervisor
Wearing the Safety Harness
• Do not punch extra holes in the safety
harness

• Ensure that there are no unauthorised

attachments or adjustments

• Be aware of any sharp edges, pinch

points or heat sources in the working
area

• Any of these could weaken your safety

harness and make it unsafe
 Rescue Step

• Above connects to back D-ring and is

easily accessible as a quick support
step in the event of a fall

• Takes the pressure off the legs and

combats post fall suspension trauma
 Attaching the Lanyard

• The lanyard should be secured to the

D-ring on the back of your harness

• The other end of the lanyard should

be securely attached to an authorised
anchor point

• A back extension strap can be used

to extend the length of the lanyard
• The lanyard should be short enough to
prevent the wearer from falling to
ground, but long enough so as to not
interfere or inhibit them from carrying
out their task.

• Visually inspect the hooks

• Do not rely on just listening for the

clicks
 Inertia Reels

• Sometimes an inertia reel is

used instead of a lanyard

• Do not use a lanyard and an

inertia reel together

• Do not use a back extension

strap and an inertia reel
together
 Training

• Only suitably trained and

authorised personnel are
allowed to use a safety
harness.

• Practical working at height

training is necessary to
show workers how to wear
and use the harness.
• Only personnel who have also been on
an overhead track fall arrest system
training course, are authorised to use a
safety harness with an overhead track
system

• Only personnel who have also been on a

safety cable system training course, are
authorised to use a safety harness with
a safety cable system
Emergency Rescue Procedure

• Ensure that you

and your fellow
worker have
both been
trained in the
emergency
rescue
procedure

Do not work alone when

wearing a safety harness
 •Risk Assessments

• Any task which requires a safety

harness to be worn should be risk
assessed

• Read any relevant risk assessments

and/or SWP’s for the job you are
about to perform
 Fall Protection

There are four phases of fall protection

1.Before the fall

2.At fall arrest

3.Suspension

4.Post-fall rescue
 Phase 1 - Before The Fall

• Wear the right safety harness and

lanyard for the task you are to perform

• Tie-off lanyards should be anchored as

high and tight as work permits

• With a mobile lifting platform (cherry

picker) the lanyard must be attached to
the platform anchor point
Never put yourself in a
position where you
cannot be rescued

Do not work alone when

wearing a safety harness

Always ensure a work

colleague is situated at
ground level and in
constant communication
Which one are you ?
Phase 2 - Fall Arrest

• The whole concept of fall

protection is that workers
who fall will be stopped by
the lanyard

• The lanyard consists of shock

absorbing webbing with a
hook on the end.
• The longer the attachment lanyard, the
greater the acceleration time during the
fall and the greater the stress on the
body at arrest

• The lanyard is designed to absorb the

energy from a falling body and bring it to
arrest, leaving it suspended in the air
 Phase 3 - Suspension

• Many people naturally

assume that, once a fall
has been arrested, the fall
protection system has
successfully completed its
job

• Unfortunately, this is not

the case
• A worker suspended in an
upright position with the
legs dangling in a harness
of any type is subject to
suspension trauma

• They could be unconscious

in 8 minutes and unless
rescued, dead within 15
minutes
 What Can Happen

• Two actual cases of suspension trauma:

• An electrical worker is lowered into a

shaft after testing for toxic gases. He is
lowered on a cable and is positioned at
the right level to repair a junction box

• After five minutes he is unconscious, but

his buddies tending the line don't realize
it, and 15 minutes later a dead body is
hauled out
• A carpenter working
alone at night is
caught in mid-fall by
his safety harness,
only to die a short
while later from
suspension trauma.
The dead body was
found the next
morning by work
colleagues
 What To Do If You Fall
Fall victims can slow the onset of
suspension trauma by:

• Moving their
legs in the
harness and
trying to push
against any
footholds

These men had been working on a

platform underneath the bridge,
when the platform collapsed
Pushing down with
their legs as hard as
they can

Getting their legs as

high as possible and
their heads as close to
horizontal as possible

However harness
design and fall injuries
may prevent these
actions
 Phase 4 - Rescue

• Immediately after the fall the rescue

procedure must be initiated

• Rescue must come rapidly to minimize

the dangers of suspension trauma

• The circumstances together with the

lanyard attachment point will
determine the possibilities of self-
rescue
• Regardless of whether a worker can self-
rescue or must rely upon others, time is
of the essence because a worker may
lose consciousness in only a few
minutes
Which one are you ?
 Remember

• Select the correct safety harness and

lanyard for the task .

• Inspect your safety harness before

wearing it

• Visually inspect that the hooks are

connected properly.
• Ensure that you and your colleague know
the emergency rescue procedure

• Read any relevant risk assessments and/or

SWP’s for the job you are about to perform

• Never work alone whilst

• wearing a safety harness.
WORKING AT HEIGHT
 Safety Harnesses
• Never attach a harness to a point outside
a platform
Any Questions ?