Fall protection equipment is designed to protect the worker in the event of a fall, however, the equipment is also subjected to malfunctions due to wear and tear.
To reduce the chances of fall protection equipment malfunctioning in the event of a fall, employers are required to do the followings for their fall protection equipment.
1. Pre work shift inspection for fall protection equipment
According to section 12 of the Workplace Safety and Health (Work at Heights) Regulations 2013, the responsible person (usually the employer) is required to appoint a competent person to inspect the anchorage and anchorage line of the travel restraint system or fall arrest system before the start of every work shift.
Which means, before the start of the shift, the competent person is required to check those items before anyone uses them. The results of inspection shall be recorded in a register for 2 years.
This is to ensure that the equipment is not damaged and works properly before the workers use them.
If the particular equipment will not be used, no inspection of the equipment is required for that shift.
Competency of the person conducting the pre work shift inspection
For a person to be competent, just going for work at height courses is not sufficient. The courses are designed to be generic and do not cover the specific type of equipment the company is using.
This person must go through training by the equipment vendor to understand what are the critical parts to be checked and how to check them.
Once the vendor is satisfied that the person is competent after the training is completed, then only he can be appointed to conduct the check of such equipment before every work shift.
Development of inspection procedure
According to the ACOP for working at height, an inspection procedure is required to be developed for inspection of the fall protection equipment.
An inspection checklist can be used to guide the competent person on the parts to check and the current condition of the equipment.
This checklist can be obtained from the equipment manufacturer regarding the critical parts of their own products to be checked.
2. Maintenance and servicing for fall protection equipment
Anchorage system
There are 2 main types of fall protection equipment that is required to be maintained. The anchorage where the fall protection equipment is to be anchored and the fall protection equipment itself.
According to the guideline from WSHC (anchorage, lifelines and temporary edge protection systems), it requires anchorage devices and systems to be examined by a competent person authorized by the manufacturer at least once every 12 months.
The competent person is usually someone authorized by the manufacturer with specialized equipment to do the servicing and maintenance to certify that the equipment is still fit for use.
Personal protective equipment
According to a guideline from WSHC (Personal protective equipment for work at heights), examination of PPE such as lanyard, harness etc . . by a competent person is required to be performed at least once every 12 months。
The competent person is someone authorized by the manufacturer to conduct the servicing and maintenance.
3. Recording the inspection results into a register
According to section 12 of the Workplace Safety and Health (Work at Heights) Regulations 2013, all inspection records shall be recorded and kept for at least 2 years. There is no legal requirement regarding the template of the register.
The register is required to have important information based on the type of fall protection equipment the company is using. Users can consider getting a template from the vendor.
If the fall protection equipment is found to be faulty, it shall be removed.
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