How and why use a fall-arrest lanyard?
A fall-arrest lanyard makes it possible to stop a worker’s fall. It protects the worker by absorbing the energy of the fall, thus limiting the severity of the impact.
Warnings
- Carefully read the Instructions for Use used in this technical advice before consulting the advice itself. You must have already read and understood the information in the Instructions for Use to be able to understand this supplementary information.
- Mastering these techniques requires specific training. Work with a professional to confirm your ability to perform these techniques safely and independently before attempting them unsupervised.
- We provide examples of techniques related to your activity. There may be others that we do not describe here.
At all times, the worker must be protected from a fall from height. The fall-arrest lanyard is there exclusively for stopping a fall, and does not replace a positioning or progression system, which can be a positioning lanyard, or simply the feet, etc. The worker's fall-arrest lanyard should not be under tension at any time. In certain situations, such as working on a platform, the worker progresses on their feet, and they do not manipulate their fall-arrest lanyard during progression.
In other work-at-height situations, the fall-arrest lanyard can be paired with a positioning lanyard. The worker is held in a stable and comfortable position by the positioning lanyard. The fall-arrest lanyard provides the worker with a means of stopping a potential fall during manipulation of their positioning lanyard.
Positioning lanyard
Fall-arrest lanyard
How do ABSORBICA lanyards protect you?
A fall-arrest lanyard allows a fall to be stopped gradually, reducing the impact force on the user. The impact generates an impact force, measured in kN, which is considered acceptable for the user up to 6 kN (the maximum value accepted by various fall-arrest lanyard standards).
The energy to be dissipated in a fall depends on independent factors:
The length of the fall:
The longer the fall, the more energy to be dissipated during the fall. The risk of hitting an obstacle is also greater.
The position relative to the anchor:
When the worker moves above their anchor, the severity of the potential fall increases. The fall factor concept is sometimes used to describe the worker’s position relative to the anchor and the severity of the fall.
The weight of the user, including equipment:
The greater the weight, the more energy to be dissipated during the fall.
How does an absorber work to cushion a fall?
The absorption capacity of a fall-arrest lanyard is due to the presence of an energy absorber, an essential component of any fall-arrest system.
To cushion a fall, a tearing energy absorber uses the successive breaking of the multiple woven fibers that make up the tear-webbing. The strength of these woven fibers regulates the impact force that the user is subjected to.
The woven fibers are weaker at the start of the strap than they are at the end. The impact force is lower if the fall energy is lower (light weight user and/or short fall). ABSORBICA energy absorbers are designed so that the impact force transmitted to the user, regardless of the fall, does not exceed 6 kN and so that the deceleration does not exceed 10 G (deceleration is proportional to the user’s weight, unlike impact force which does not take weight into account).
Clearance
Clearance is the amount of clear space below your feet, that you must maintain to avoid hitting an obstacle in a fall. The clearance value is given in the Instructions for Use for each fall-arrest lanyard.
For a given product, the clearance depends on the user’s weight and on their position relative to the anchor.
For more details on the topics covered here, or to learn the clearance values for the various products in our line, see the ABSORBICA technical advice available online or check out our clearance simulator.
