Using the GRILLON as an anchor for more than one person
As with every anchor certified to EN 795 after 2015, the GRILLON is marked for single-person use only. In the field, use by more than one person is possible.
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.
Standards context:
The EN 795 standard changed in 2015 based on a text edited in 2012. This new version limits anchors to single-person use only. This context can seem unsuitable for certain anchors that are commonly used by multiple persons.
Note: the GRILLON meets the performance requirements of TS 16415 which allows multi-person use, but is not certified to this standard due to conflicts with the EN 795 marking requirements.
Additionally, EN 795 type C, which covers lifeline usage, no longer takes into account the use of intermediate anchors, which enables keeping the users of the lifeline separated on individual segments.
The first-generation GRILLON (before 2017) were not limited by these requirements.
In the field:
If necessary, the new generation GRILLON (2017 and after) may be used by more than one person.
A risk analysis must be done for each situation to determine the best solution to use.
Note: in all cases, as with all anchors, obeying the redundancy principle is recommended to avoid entrusting user safety to a single piece of equipment.
Example of restraint use:
In the case of two or three persons attached with restraint lanyards on a properly delimited terrace roof, away from any fall risk, a single GRILLON set up as a lifeline can work well.
Example of work positioning use:
As soon as the users put their weight on the lifeline, the use of a single GRILLON becomes questionable, if only for reasons of comfort: each user’s movements will be felt by the other and can be destabilizing.
Example of fall arrest use:
During use, there is no problem with using a single GRILLON. But the consequences of a worker fall must be considered: will lifeline deflection cause the other worker to fall? How could a rescue be organized for the first fallen worker?
The main risk being two workers falling simultaneously, Petzl did fall-arrest tests, in an extreme use situation (very high-energy fall on a lifeline with no intermediate anchor point).
Fall test on a 13 m lifeline: 250 kg mass falling 1 m.
For this high-energy fall, we see that the loads on the anchors remain moderate. On the other hand, there is significant deflection so the setup must take this into account. Finally, the initial tension in the lifeline had a relatively low effect on the results.
| Initial tension in the lifeline | Slippage in the GRILLON | Maximum load measured on the anchor | Maximum deflection |
| 1 kN | 0,01 cm | less than 6 kN | 6 m |
| 3 kN | 0,01 cm | 7 kN | 5 m |
Review of usage conditions for pre-2017 GRILLON: