Sydney Height Safety & Solutions

Jan 4, 2008
You may be aware that AS/NZS1891.1:1995 – Industrial fall arrest systems and devices – Part 1 Safety Belts and Harnesses has been in revision for the last 12 months, and it is finally due to be published within the next month.

Some height safety equipment manufacturers have made statements that while not incorrect are mis-leading the way the statement has been made. To ensure that we are making users aware of the correct information, the list below the actual revisions and the correct reason for the revision.

1. Removal of belts from the “Standard”
The industrial safety belts have been removed from the “Standard” as the document is now specifically for fall arrest equipment, and we have recognised for some time that belts can not be used for Fall Arrest. WE WILL STILL PRODUCE BELTS – BOTH RESTRAINT AND MINERS, BUT THEY WILL NOT BE CERTIFIED TO AS/NZS 1891.1

2. Removal of the term “FALL RESTRAINT”
As mentioned above the term “Fall Restraint” has been removed and what the Standard is saying that while the method of restraint is no longer acceptable – restraint systems can still be deployed as long as shock absorbing/ fall arrest equipment is used.
THE REASON FOR THIS IS TO REMOVE THE MANY FALL RESTRAINT SYSTEMS THAT ARE IN PLACE TO ENSURE THAT THESE ARE NOT MISTAKENLY LOADED IN A FALL ARREST SITUATION. ALL RESTRAINT EQUIPMENT WILL NEED TO BE REPLACED WITH CORRESPONDING ARREST TYPE EQUIPMENT.
NOTE: Working in restraint utilising fall arrest equipment is still the safest method to work.

3. Introduction of Lower body harnesses to the “Standard”
A number of committee members were concerned that the leisure industry has no base line for leisure related equipment especially the “sit” or lower body harness. A number of leisure operators are using equipment that is of a poor standard and committee members were concerned that if accidents happened there was no legislation in place to protect the users of this equipment.
BEAVER HAVE NO CURRENT PLAN TO MANUFACTURE LOWER BODY HARNESSES.

4. Front fall arrest attachment point
While a number of B-Safe Harnesses have front restraint attachment points, for working in a restraint mode/ roofers kit, we have not been able to label these as fall arrest attachment points as the current “Standard” has no test procedure. This has been revised to now set a test procedure for fall arrest on the front loops. All harnesses are now required to have a front centre fall arrest attachment point.

THIS WILL MEAN A REDUCTION IN A NUMBER OF CURRENT B-SAFE HARNESS STYLES: BH01100, BH01112 Black, BH01112, BH01130, BH01150, BH02000, BH02010, BH04050 and BH04055, will be deleted.

ALL B-SAFE HARNESS STYLES MENTIONED ABOVE HAVE A SUITABLE EQUIVALENT WITH FRONT FALL ARREST POINTS. e.g. BH01100 = BH01120, BH01150 = BH01151, BH02000 = BH02020.









5. Test procedure for twin access lanyards
Twin access lanyards have come under the spot light since a serious incident in Towoomba in November 2005, and the “Standard” is now setting specific test and use procedures for this piece of equipment. This includes the introduction of a “parking” feature on the lanyard to place the second lanyard leg whilst not being used.
BEAVER WILL BE MODIFYING  TWIN ACCESS LANYARDS TO INCORPERATE THIS PARKING FEATURE SOON.


6. Label Font requirements
The revised “Standard” requires labelling to be of a certain size.

7. Gate opening tension on snap hooks and karabiners that are required to comply with the “Standard” now are required to open at a specific tension.

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF OTHER CONFUSING STATEMENTS BEING MADE THAT NEED TO BE CLARIFIED:

1. All users of equipment need to replace the equipment immediately.
This is not correct, no-one needs to replace anything, the “Standard” is an advisory document to users, and for a product to be certified, it needs to meet the requirements of the “Standard”. Current users with “Standards” approved product are not required to change there existing equipment. When they go to replace the equipment with “Standards” certified product then the above changes will be in place.

2. You cannot use restraint systems.
If a system has been designed purely for restraint purposes, then it needs to be made into a fall arrest system and can be used in a restraint mode.

NOTE: B-SAFE ROOFERS KITS ARE RECOMMENDED TO BE USED IN A RESTRAINT METHOD, HOWEVER WE PLACE SHOCK ABSORBING LANYARDS IN THE KITS. THIS AGAIN IS PROVIDING THE BEST OF BOTH SYSTEMS, RESTRAINT AND ARREST. COMPETITOR COMPANIES THAT SUPPLY ROOFERS KITS WITHOUT SHOCK ABSORBING LANYARDS WILL NOW HAVE TO INCLUDE THESE.

3. The changes listed above take place immediately
With the introduction of the above revisions, we as a manufacturer have 12 months to comply to these requirements. These revisions do require a lot of modifications to the B-Safe range of product and once we have made arrangements with the certifying authorities- Global Mark, to come in a verify the new tests, the full product range will be certified to the revised “Standard”.

4. Because of these revisions, there is now some conflict between AS/NZS1891.1 and AS/NZS1891.4. Consequently the SF-015 committee is now undertaking a revision of AS/NZS1891.4 to line up with the requirements of AS/NZS1891.1. We would suspect that this revision could also take some time.

If any staff member, distributor or customer requires further information on this subject, please feel free to contact us .