Recommendations for safe work at height

To ensure an appropriate level of safety when performing work at height, when placing an individual fall arrest system, the following risk factors should be taken into account and elementary rules and recommendations for safe work at height should be followed:

Minimum free space

The safe holding of a falling person must occur in the air (after the phase of the so-called free fall). If there is an impact on the base or an obstacle, the consequences will always be dangerous to life or health. To prevent such a hazard, a "free space" should be provided in the area below the user. This is a space free of obstacles that you can hit when you fall. When determining the amount of free space, it is necessary to take into account the parameters of the connecting and damping subsystem, as well as the position of the attachment point relative to the user.

The position of the attachment point

The path of free fall should always be as short as possible. The height of the location of the attachment point relative to the position of the system user determines the length of the path of free fall. If the attachment point of the connecting-damping subsystem is above the worker, the fall path will be shortened as much as possible. However, the position of the attachment point below the position of the worker will increase the fall path, which can lead to impact on the surface below or cause a threat associated with exceeding the impact force accompanying the fall restraint. In a situation where there is an alternative, the user should choose the anchor point located as high as possible.

Pendulum effect

This is a dangerous phenomenon, based on the pendular nature of free fall, during which there is a risk of hitting the obstacles on the side. Removing the user from the vertical, which defines the line drawn from the anchor point, increases the possibility of a pendulum effect. If the angle of deviation from the vertical is less than 30 degrees, the threat of the pendulum effect is low, if it is greater, it is high. Therefore, when choosing an attachment point, you should strive to reduce the threat associated with the pendulum effect.