July 26, 2004—A number of recorded incidents in Europe coupled with interim findings of ongoing research by the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have raised concerns with certain fall arrest equipment usually found attached to or integrated in fixed ladders on permanent structures. A guided type fall arrest is part of a fall-arrest system that includes a vertical rigid anchor line, usually attached to or integrated in fixed ladders.
Problems associated with these particular devices have been reported in the Netherlands, Austria, and Germany, as follows:
- Three cases (one fatal) involved the arrester running off the end of the rigid rail anchor lines, even though there had been an end stop fitted;
- In two cases falls occurred with little injury although the devices failed to operate properly;
- In a further two cases the devices failed to operate properly, resulting in serious/fatal injuries.
- In one case the fall arrester arrested the fall but the connector failed, resulting in serious injuries.
Martin Holden, Principal Specialist Inspector in HSE’s Construction Corporate Topic Group, said, “All those manufacturing, installing, using or having responsibility for any of these types of fixed rail or guided wire fall arrest equipment need to be aware of these important alerts. HSE advises that all relevant parties heed the warnings they contain and follow the recommendations in them. If end users are unable to follow the recommendations then we advise that alternative means of fall protection be used until such time that the equipment can be modified or replaced.”
The British Standards Institution (BSI) technical committee, PH/5 (Industrial Safety Belts and Harnesses), which is responsible for the UK’s input to the European Standards for Personal Protective Equipment against Falls from Height, has prepared two alerts in relation to the safety in performance of BS EN 353-1 2002 Part 1 fall arrest equipment.
The two warnings are available on annexes to HSE Press Release: E074:04 from June 1, 2004.
