Understanding 4 main types of Fall Protection Systems
Fall protection refers to a system designed to protect personnel from falling hazards. Definition of fall protection is not enough, it is important to understand the types of fall protection to understand the hierarchy of its system.
Fall protection systems can be categorized into
- Fall Elimination
- Fall Prevention
- Fall Restraint
- Fall Arrest
Identification of hazards is the key for you to either control or eliminate them.
Fall Elimination:
Once the hazard is identified, the first thing to do is planning the elimination of the hazard. Any location, practice, or equipment that is exposed to the fall hazard, once identified, should be eliminated by either replacing the location of equipment to the ground or keeping it away from the edge. Elimination should be the first practice to be carried out.
Alas, full elimination is not always possible, and to solve that next in the category is fall prevention.
Fall Prevention
Prevention is the passive form of fall protection. Basic examples include all types of guard rails, barriers, coverings, etc. Once they’re installed there is no active mechanism in it. For example, in some manufacturing or industrial facility, some equipment is to be placed at particular heights or there are very narrow platforms at heights, in this case, a guard rail around it can protect you from the exposure of fall hazard. As the Dutch philosopher, Desiderius Erasmus once said “Prevention is better than cure”.
When the rails are not present at heights or are not reliable that’s where you can use fall restraint systems.
Fall Restraints
As the name suggests, fall restraint means restraining personnel from a fall hazard. This can be used in work positioning and travel restriction systems. In a work position, you can use a full-body harness which is attached to the anchors so the worker is restricted to an area with both hands free, and in Travel restriction, the personnel is attached to a fixed-length line that prevents him from traveling to an edge/ fall hazard. F.S Hughes says “Safety brings first aid to the uninjured”.
Equipment used: Full Body Harnesses, Anchors, Fixed length lines, Connectors
When fall restraint is not possible, the next best option is to use a fall arrest system.
Fall Arrest System
These systems are designed to protect you after a fall by arresting your fall. This system follows the ABCD rule, A: Anchors, B: Body support like full-body harnesses C: Connectors connecting safety harness, lanyards, and lifelines, D: Descent or Rescue once fall is arrested.
The fall protection follows the same hierarchy starting from elimination, prevention, restraint, and arrest systems. Concluding with the quote that sums up the safety and fall hazard that “Luck runs out but SAFETY is good for life”.
Check out Fall Arrest systems at Inovatix, Vertical Fall Arrest System on Rigid Rail, Rigid Rope, Flexible Rope, Over the Head fall protection, Over the Roof fall protection, etc.
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