Information: call for inspection for the NEWTON harness
Request for inspection of the NEWTON harness sternal attachment point.
February 16 2012
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Context
During a periodic inspection on a NEWTON harness, improperly positioned safety stitching was found on one of the loops of the sternal attachment point.
As a precautionary measure, Petzl is asking all of its customers to inspect the safety stitching on the loops of the sternal attachment point on all NEWTON harnesses.
The products affected by this request for inspection are the NEWTON C73*** type harnesses with serial numbers below 11365***.
To do the inspection
This inspection is simple. It involves measuring the safety stitching on the loops of the sternal attachment point.
For the inspection of your NEWTON type harness, you can:
1. Do the inspection yourself
Download "Special request to control the sternal attachment point" (PDF - 1,4Mo)
2. Have your country's Petzl distributor do the inspection
In this case, contact your Petzl distributor (contacts below) who will take care of this inspection and provide further instructions.
If the harness does not pass inspection: Immediately stop using your harness and contact your country’s Petzl distributor (contacts below)
We are well aware of the inconvenience that this request may cause and thank you in advance for your help.
Contact
Please use the contact form.
FAQ
- Are all models of the Petzl NEWTON harness concerned?
Yes, all Petzl references of Petzl NEWTON harnesses are concerned: C73 ****
- If the Series number is illegible, what should be done?
This request for control covers all Petzl NEWTON harnesses. The oldest Petzl NEWTON harnesses manufactured in 2002 are still just within their maximum lifetime. The Series number is therefore not important for this control. All products manufactured before 2012 and not marked with a green dot are concerned.
- How has this problem been detected? Was there an accident or an incident? What are the consequences of a stitching error as described?
This problem was detected during a periodic PPE inspection. There was no incident and no accident. The consequences of varying the stitch position too much is that the thread may not properly engage the two parts of rope included in the Petzl NEWTON sternal attachment point, which could result in an overall resistance below our quality requirements.
- Do we need to stop all Petzl NEWTON users from working until the control is made?
As in any requirement for a control such as this, we ask that the user performs the check as soon as possible.
- We have numerous Petzl NEWTON harnesses among our teams of workers. Will conducting the controls delay the work that we have scheduled?
Using the procedures available on www.petzl.com professional users of the Petzl NEWTON harness have the skills to perform this simple control themselves, allowing users to continue using the harnesses with minimum inconvenience. If it may help to quicken this process, particularly where you have many harnesses to control, then contact your Petzl distributor in your country, who will be available to provide assistance.
- I do not wish to conduct the inspections of these products myself. Should I take the harnesses back to the retailer/distributor where we purchased them?
Contact your Petzl distributor in your country, who will provide assistance with these controls.
- I have a doubt about the inspection that I have conducted on my product, who should I contact for more information?
Contact your Petzl distributor in your country, who may provide assistance with these controls.
- How do we record the inspected products?
Record the result and date of control in your company’s equipment register. If you haven’t entered the number of Petzl NEWTON harnesses you need to control whilst downloading the control process from www.petzl.com, then please inform your local Petzl distributor in your country of the quantity of Petzl NEWTON harnesses you have actually controlled.
To quickly identify controlled Petzl NEWTON harnesses, we recommend that controllers mark the label themselves with a green dot made with an indelible pen., in addition to the record of the result and date of control in the company’s equipment register.
- Do we need to record the Series number when performing the control?
The recording of Series numbers of controlled harnesses is not required because all Petzl NEWTON harnesses manufactured before 11365 are covered by this control. This control should be recorded in the user’s equipment register as for periodic inspections. We ask users to enter the number of harnesses controlled whilst downloading the special control procedure from www.petzl.com.
- How do I know if that Petzl NEWTON harness has already been controlled?
All Petzl NEWTON harnesses are now supplied by Petzl marked with a green dot on the identification label. In the case of a user control, we recommend entering the date of this control in your equipment register, in addition to your periodic inspections. To quickly identify controlled Petzl NEWTON harnesses, we recommend that controllers mark the label themselves with a green dot made with an indelible pen.
- What does the green dot signify on the label of a new Petzl NEWTON harness?
This green dot is either:
- an indication of this control made during final production by Petzl,
- or an indication of this control made by a user or a controler.
- What do I do with new Petzl Newton harnesses that are in stock in my warehouse/shop?
Control all of your Petzl NEWTON harnesses, new or in service, produced up to Series Number 11365xxxxx as soon as possible, before sale or use, using the procedure available on www.petzl.com.
- What is being done to inform all the potential owners of this product?
With the help of our international distribution network we can directly inform all the distributors and retailers of our products throughout the world. We are also communicating this information to the users with an alert on www.petzl.com and other related information websites, and we will push this notice on our social media platforms (Petzl Facebook Page and twitter@petzl). The information is also to be published in press and on noticeboards in retail shops. We are also asking our distribution network to directly inform end users with their customer relation databases.
- How many Newton harnesses are involved in this action?
By measure of precaution, we have taken the decision to include all Petzl NEWTON harnesses produced since the year 2002. As a consequence, there are tens of thousands of harnesses which need to be controlled.
- In the control procedure, you mention a margin for "error of measurement" What does this mean?
During our work since receiving the alert to this issue, we have determined the minimum acceptable distance for the stitching position. The Petzl gauge includes an additional distance to this minimum to give a margin of security during the control. The procedure for control with a tape measure or engineer’s rule includes an additional 1mm margin over the Petzl gauge because these measuring techniques are more difficult to perform accurately on site.