The different types of Fall Protection Systems that exist are:
Travel restraint systems are a system designed to stop a worker from approaching an edge where they may fall from.
Fall Arrest Systems: A system designed to stop a workers fall once in motion.
Control Zones: Controlling entry 2 meters (6’6”) from an edge on a level elevated work surface.
Safety Nets: Large specialized nets are suspended below the work area ready to catch workers in the event of a fall. Commonly used in bridge repair.
Another system: approved by the director of inspection. (Safety Monitor, procedure based system)
A fall arrest system is only to be used as a last line of defence.
Additional terms are:
Primary Fall Protection ‐ This is the system supporting the workers body weight at height and can consist of hands, feet, bosuns chair, and positioning lanyards.
Secondary Fall Protection‐ This system should never support the workers body weight under normal use, it will only support weight if the worker is to fall.
Fall Arrest Systems‐ A fall arrest system consists of an anchor, body harness, connectors, and a timely rescue once an worker has fell and is suspended. A fall arrest system permits a worker to fall, but decelerates and arrests their fall. Hazards include swing falls, inadequate clearance, equipment failure, injury due to fall forces, and entanglement.
These types of systems only work on generally flat work areas with no openings or skeleton structure. Hazards due to an improperly set up system include swinging falls, falling onto a static system, and falling through an opening in the working level.
Work Positioning Systems‐A work positioning is a primary body support device that allows you to replace your hold on the structure for support from a positioning system such as a lanyard connected to your waist.
100% TIE OFF‐The design and use of a fall protection system that allows a worker to move around on an elevated structure no ma er how complicated, with the user always being connected to the system.
The reason workers are required to have this training, are that falls at work, are the second leading cause of accidental injury at a work site. For example, near Red Deer, Alberta, in 2001, a worker at a fuel loading station, who was filling his tanker truck, climbed up on top of the truck, and as these were no hand rails in place, the worker slipped and fell off to the ground. The worker was transported to a hospital in Red Deer, but was pronounced dead at the scene. The worker was fatally injured as a result of the head injury related to his fall.
