Loose Fitting Safety Harness

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Permalink Reply by Troy Taylor on November 10, 2008 at 2:26pm

Steppin outside for some air after reading that one.

Is it OK to print and distribute the article to our employees? Excellent way to get the point across, that's for sure.

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Permalink Reply by Safetyguy08 on November 10, 2008 at 2:28pm

Absolutely!
We've been handing it out to all our customers. Some of them have even posted it on their message board to drive home the point.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Octave on November 17, 2008 at 5:43pm

Wow Rob that is pretty crazy!

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Permalink Reply by Mark Dennington on May 6, 2009 at 7:00pm

I have been using this article in my training classes and although it is definately not for the faint of heart the truth about these pictures are:

1. one out of every nine people that fall using other fall protection have a testicular injury. Question: Why? It is not just because of the loose fitting harnesses. I take my harness (and I have wear them very loose) and I jump off buildings and structures to prove my point. See the CBS video. Nobody else can perform live jumps in their harnesses, tight or not, due to these types of injuries. You're not going to stop people from wearing them loose but we have engineered a harness that will automatically slide up and form a cup for you. I did a demonstration jump in Washington state for OSHA at the Governor's Safety Conference last year and it was on NBC news in your area; did you catch it?

2. One of the misconceptions is that these types of injuries (this one included) are mostly caused when using retractables with harnesses without a shock absorber. The truth about a retractable is, it has to be over the top of your head and you can be no further than eighteen inches from the center of a retractable and still be in federal compliance. Explanation: If you're more than 18" from the center and you have a 2' drop with your retractable, you're fall is already at 3 1/2' which is 1800 lbs plus, which is out of federal compliance. Go to my website at www.DenningtonSafetySystems.com and look at the Ironworkers Article. He states that with this system we eliminate more recognized hazards (OSHA violations) than you can count on two hands. This is one of the hazards.

We have the only harness in the world that is UL certified to federal OSHA and ANSI. Furthermore, it is in three separate weight classes; no one else can do that. If you read the federal standard it says you have to be properly rigged so you can neither free fall more than 6' or make contact with a lower level and you must keep the worker under 1800 lbs of force. There is a minimum of three weight classes of workers and one size fits all shock absorbers don't work. By having three weight classes protected, you have a better chance of eliminating these types of injuries and many, many more from happening.

I will be posting a blog very soon on new standard interpretations, be watching for it, I'm sure you'll find it very interesting.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Silva on May 7, 2009 at 10:17am

I have seen that photo and use it regularly in training sessions. Most reaponses I get are Oh S&^!

I beleieve that we have to continually educate workers on the proper donning and doffing of fall protection.

Best wishes to all.

Mike

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Permalink Reply by Jarrod Mabb on May 7, 2009 at 1:41pm

I actually got the article a few weeks back from my PM on site and discussed this with our site safety committee a couple days later. I covered up the picture and advised them to read the article first and then look if they so chose. All of course did look and, all of them being guys, all cringed at the picture contained in the article. Hopefully for those guys the "story" got carried onto some of their co-workers because I know I wouldn't want that happening to myself or others and want to stress the proper fit of a safety harness to everyone I know!

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Permalink Reply by Safetyguy08 on May 7, 2009 at 1:59pm

Sometimes a photo like that, however troubling, can accomplish what words alone can't!

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Permalink Reply by Jarrod Mabb on May 7, 2009 at 3:54pm

I whole heartedly agree with you! Cliche I know but a picture is worth a thousand (or many, many) more words.

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