EHSDA Shorts: What Are the A, B, C, and D’s of Fall Protection?

Jacklin: If we do have to use fall arrest, because it isn’t quite a popular option and sometimes the only option we have, we got to make sure we have our basic components.

So the A, B, C’s, and D’s of fall protection are as follows. They are the anchorage, they’re the body harness, the connection device and the D, that’s not for diversified, that’s for descent and rescue.

Because if you’re in active fall arrest equipment, you got to have a self-rescue plan. Some people don’t know that if your rescue plan is limited to just calling 911, that’s a big OSHA violation. If you have people in fall arrest equipment, you have to have means of self rescue as the employer. So that means either a scissor lift, a ladder, a rogue descent system. It doesn’t have to be really complicated. It just has to be something that will get the pressure off that person’s feet so they’re no longer suspended, gets them to ground and medical care as soon as possible.

Now, I don’t want to dive into an A, B, Cs of fall protection course. However, I do want to talk about a recent update to SRLs. This was an ANSI update again, not a OSHA update. So it’s a manufacturer standard change, as of August 2023, SRL manufacturers cannot manufacture the old standard., they have to classify SRLs as either a class 1 or a Class 2 SRL or SRD as self-retracting devices, self-retracting life lines, sometimes called yoyos, whatever you call them.

But now manufacturers have to differentiate Class 1 and Class 2. So a Class 1 SRL is for overhead use only. An SRL kind of works like a seat belt in your car. If you lunge forward too quickly, that seat belt locks up and doesn’t allow any more seat belt to come out. Well, an SRL basically works the same. Fun fact, some of the very first SRL prototypes were seat belt blocks, taken straight out of an automobile.

So Class 1 SRLs overhead use only, because as you pull those tight, they lock up almost instantly. Now Class 2 SRL, that’s for leading edge applications. So you have two options for tie off on a Class 2: You can still tie off above the doors of the ring, or you can tie off down to the foot level. Because a Class 2 SRL is going to have added protection for the lifeline itself. Because light SRLs, they don’t lock up until you pass beneath the level of the SRL.

So if you’re working beneath one and you fall, it’s going to pull straight and it’s going to pull almost immediately. But if you’re working above your SRL, it’s tied off at your foot level. So you’re on the rooftop of a building, There’s no structure above that, an anchor point, the need to fall beneath the level of that SRL and then it will lock up.

And that additional shock pack, you can see one on this SRL, it’s blue DVI unit has this orange shock pack in between the snapple and the SRL. On that one, that shock pack is not for you, the user. That shock pack is for the SRL lifeline itself to make sure it doesn’t bust when it goes over that edge that you’re walking. So if you have workers that are tying off at foot level or anywhere beneath the dorsal D ring, you have to be using Class 2 SRLs.

And this is a good example of when people say, “Well, hey, that’s an ANSI update. OSHA doesn’t require that.” That’s when I say, well, “Hey, OSHA does require you to follow manufacturer instructions and per manufacturer instructions, now you won’t be able to find one that allows the use of a former class one Class 2 SRL. This is the new standard.”

In that way, is how ANSI gets enforced by manufacturer instructions, but something that manufacturers can no longer make these SRLs to the old standard.

If you’re in the field still using what they were formerly called the Class A or Class B SRLs, they’re still OK to use, if they are passing your annual competent person inspection. Just the manufacturer themselves cannot produce a new unit to that old standard.