SAFETY
knowledge,
biased advice, or misinformation from others with an incomplete
understanding of the issues, can lead to indecision or wrong decisions.
Tankfully, there are
good sources of information on evolving legislation and innovations in fall protection PPE, if you know where to look. Trade associations, training agencies and health and safety organisations, for instance, can help to keep you up to date. Look out, in addition, for webinars and seminars on fall protection. It’s also well worth finding PPE suppliers who you feel you can trust for impartial guidance on whether and how to upgrade. Amongst other support, MSA provides easy-to- understand fact sheets and publications on the key issues to aid awareness.
CAPACITY CHOICES One good example of an area with potential for misunderstanding is load capacity limits. Te current EU standard for a body harness, which is an essential piece of fall protection PPE, is 100kg. Te user himself or herself may weigh under 100kg, but we also need to consider the additional weight of heavy tools and other PPE. For this reason, MSA certifies its harnesses to 140kg. If the harnesses used by a business
The importance of upgrading PPE cannot be understated
MAKING THE DECISION EASIER For many businesses and PPE buyers, there is no lack of willingness to comply, and more, with fall protection legislation. Teir problem is with the complexity of the rules, the quantity of documentation, and the difficulty in fully understanding what it all means for real-life applications. Any change in standards can add to the confusion. Meanwhile, they may feel bewildered by the information and choices offered by competing PPE suppliers. As a result, businesses might find it difficult to know whether they are compliant, whether new PPE would be beneficial, and what PPE products would best meet their needs. Insufficient
are several years old, they are likely to be certified to 100kg. Teir owner may be unaware that harnesses with the added safety factor of a 140kg limit are now available and may therefore see no reason to upgrade.
When an old harness reaches the end
of its service life, the owner will compare potential replacement products. Presented with two harnesses, both of which comply with the EU standard, he or she might logically choose the lower-priced product without looking for differences in load capacity. MSA’s other fall protection PPE
products are similarly certified to 140kg rather than the EU standard of 100kg. Tey include fall arrest systems, such as self-retracting lifelines (SRLs). Te same load capacity limit is applied to MSA temporary horizontal lifelines, tripods and other anchorages. Clearly, all parts of
A temporary horizontal lifeline
a fall protection system need to have the same load capacity if weak links are to be avoided.
MSA provides clear and simple information with each product and system to help users understand how it should be used and in what circumstances. Crucially, this includes warnings on situations in which the load weight or other factors will make its use unsafe.
TIME IS MONEY A key gain to be made from upgrading fall protection PPE is savings in time. Every minute spent on activities other than the job in hand amounts to lost productivity. Donning, set-up, inspection and maintenance of PPE all take time. Any design improvement which reduces that lost time can be seen as an ongoing operational cost saver. Viewed from a different angle, any design improvement which makes safety procedures quicker and easier to perform helps ensure they are always carried out properly. Correct use of a fall protection system is complicated by the interaction of its component parts. It may consist of, for instance, a harness, an SRL and a temporary horizontal lifeline. Each has a different set of features and functions, as well as its own certification. Each also has a user manual. Combining these elements optimally for each specific set of application circumstances can involve a lot of reading. To simplify this process, MSA is now producing user-friendly system guidance,
www.engineerlive.com 39
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
