#43: Did You Select The Right Fall Protection Harness?

The Ultimate Guide to Harness Selection 

Introduction:
Welcome to the Allen Safety Podcast, where Joe and Jen unravel the mysteries of safety equipment. In this episode, they dive deep into harnesses, revealing the top four crucial considerations before making a purchase.

1. Size Matters:
The hosts emphasize the importance of choosing the right size for a harness. Stressing that adjustability has limits, they underscore that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is personal, urging listeners to understand preferences and brand variations. They recommend testing multiple sizes to ensure a perfect fit for every user.

2. Style and Fit:
Delving into harness styles, Joe and Jen highlight key components like leg straps, garment-style connections, and backside adjustments. They discuss the impact of comfort on usage duration and stress the need to match harness styles with specific tasks. Various connection points, front and back, are explored, providing a comprehensive guide for optimal harness selection.

3. Lanyard Selection:
The hosts dissect lanyard choices, advocating for retractable options with shock absorbers. They caution against using mismatched brands between harness and lanyard, emphasizing the importance of a cohesive fall protection system. Practical tips, such as avoiding looping lanyards unnecessarily, add a layer of insight to ensure safe usage.

4. Understanding Usage:
The episode underscores the necessity of understanding the intended use of the harness. From climbing ladders to confined spaces, Joe and Jen stress that harness selection is a tailored process. They encourage conducting an elevated work survey before purchasing, outlining the importance of job-specific harnesses for various scenarios.

Closing Thoughts:
The hosts conclude with a reminder that safety is a continuous process. They advocate for hazard engineering over reliance on PPE, encouraging listeners to explore alternative safety measures such as catwalks, ladders, and platforms. The hosts express gratitude for the support, inviting listeners to engage further through the Alan Safety Coaching website.

Stay Safe with Allen Safety:
For in-depth safety discussions, virtual coaching, and on-site services, visit www.allensafetycoaching.com or www.Allen-Safety.com

 Support the podcast by subscribing, liking, and sharing. .

Conclusion:
As you gear up for the new year, prioritize safety. The Allen Safety Podcast team wishes everyone a wonderful holiday season, thanking listeners for their support and commitment to workplace safety. Until next time, stay safe!

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Transcript

Important Considerations When Buying a Harness

Speaker 1 0:00

Alan Safety Podcast. Joe Jen. This one's about harnesses. Top four things you should know before you buy harness.

Speaker 2 0:07

Harnesses.

Speaker 1 0:08

Here we go.

Speaker 2 0:09

Here we go, here we go.

Speaker 1 0:25

Welcome to our safety podcast. Alan Safety Joe Jen today top four things you think about before you buy harness.

Speaker 2 0:31

Yep.

Speaker 1 0:32

It's kind of we're going to do some of these where we buy equipment all the time. We don't sponsor any equipment or promote equipment.

Speaker 2 0:38

But there's things you should think about. That's because I want to be able to be honest if it's terrible.

Speaker 1 0:40

But you want to think about things you don't think about.

Speaker 2 0:42

Yeah, we see a lot of stuff when we're training in the fields lots of harnesses, lots of meters, lots of air packs, and so over time we end up buying some to help out with training too.

Speaker 1 0:52

And for ourselves. We want our own stuff when we're going.

Speaker 2 0:54

For training our team. So this is kind of an unboxing All right, here we go.

Speaker 1 0:57

So the first one's going to be you got to buy the right size.

Speaker 2 1:00

Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:00

So it doesn't matter what kind of harness you're going to buy, what style brand, whatever you got, to buy the right size. If you don't have the right size that fits the person, then it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 1:08

Yeah, I mean they're adjustable, but to a certain point, Right. I mean, I think the biggest thing that we have to remember anytime we're buying any kind of safety stuff is it's PPE.

Speaker 1 1:17

It's supposed to be personal so it's not just, we buy 100. 100 launches, yeah, that's not what we're doing.

Speaker 2 1:22

That's not helpful.

Speaker 1 1:23

Yeah, so figure out the size you need. Figure out what it find out from the people, what they prefer or not for the size.

Speaker 2 1:29

Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:30

And then when you do that, the size is going to be different from your different brands and different styles.

Speaker 2 1:34

That is true, that is true. Yeah, so figure out your, figure out your size, and well, and I think, like from the comfort, if it depends what you're wearing it, how long you're wearing it. You know, how how much adjusting you can do or not do.

Speaker 1 1:48

She has had different kinds of harness over the years. She bought one a few years ago that was made for Feeveeals.

Speaker 2 1:52

Yeah, I didn't like it at all, to be honest, it was just a different style, different fit. I didn't care for it. Yes, it was made for women, but I just I was like no yeah.

Speaker 1 2:01

So that's the one. How do you get the right size?

Speaker 2 2:03

Yeah, get the right size. Maybe look at testing a couple. Absolutely, that's what I would say.

Speaker 1 2:08

There's nothing wrong with getting five sizes of the kind you're looking to getting.

Speaker 2 2:13

Yeah.

Speaker 1 2:14

And then have them try them all and figure it out.

Speaker 2 2:16

Test run, you know.

Speaker 1 2:17

Absolutely Make it. Make them part of it. They're part of the wear more. Yeah, you're trying to wear this when you're not around. Also, just remember that.

Speaker 2 2:24

Yeah.

Speaker 1 2:25

So from the safe side, all right. The next one is the style Yep. So this one is a particular style here. It has different kind of pieces connections.

Speaker 2 2:34

I will remember my headset so I can do a little display.

Speaker 1 2:38

So when you're looking at the style, you're looking at how it sets on the person. You're looking for how it moves on. Now the leg straps are important. If you have the style like this, that you just want to have it on yourself and you're not really going to share it, they work great. If you're going to share it between bunch of people like buying space something, then maybe you want the kind with the little garment styles.

Speaker 2 2:56

The grommet, yeah, like the belt-whip style. Right, so you can adjust it faster. This is nice, but it does take a minute, it does. It does take a minute.

Speaker 1 3:04

The other thing you want to look at is on the style of it is on the backside. You got to decide if you want where does want this to be, how comfortable you want this to be, how loose you want it to be, and that's basically. What we're looking at is the different style. This is how it fits you overall. Is what you're looking for.

Speaker 2 3:19

Well, and something else too, is that they do have where you can turn and make adjustments different styles that make it a little bit easier to adjust here. Don't like my dog, based on the height of the person too.

Speaker 1 3:32

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 3:32

So that is. It's adjustable here, adjustable leg pieces, adjustable with a chest strap too. So one thing you'll probably notice here is that this one doesn't have this side clamped or beltlet. Yeah, I wanted very streamlined.

Speaker 1 3:48

This goes up. We'll talk about later why we had that style. But the point of it is yes, there's different styles. Yeah, Pieces, you can hook into front connections, back connections, all different styles, Yep, Okay. So the next one is the lanyard. So now we have on the backside here, this is a retractable lanyard. Now that makes it. You may have a four foot lanyard, six foot, eight foot, but remember, don't get an eight foot lanyard. It's going to have an extension of one to two feet or longer, but on a six foot ladder. So when people say I want to be tied off on a ladder, but we had this long lanyard, it's not the point.

Speaker 1 4:18

So, you've got the retractable.

Fall Protection Harness Selection and Use

Speaker 2 4:20

Yeah, you've got the retractable, you've got the shock absorber Also, just remember a quick thing. That's kind of a pep heap of mine. We don't want to like wrap the lanyard around and back tight, back on itself.

Speaker 1 4:30

Unless it's the kind that allows it. Unless it's the kind that allows for that.

Speaker 2 4:33

So there are some different systems. If you don't have a tie off point, you know you can use some, some different tie offs that are made for that.

Speaker 1 4:41

You can use beam wrap for different things. But the point of it is, with this style here, that if you are going to use it for, like different situations, just watch what you look into, make sure and make sure the lanyard is the same brand as the harness.

Speaker 2 4:54

That's the biggest gap.

Speaker 1 4:54

We see everywhere we go.

Speaker 2 4:56

Yeah Well, I mean they're not rated. A Miller with a DBI or a Honeywell with a three, I mean they're not really rated, they're rated as a system. So the components as the fall system are tested together as a unit.

Speaker 1 5:12

Absolutely so. That's that one there. So you want to make sure that you know the lanyard, now the lanyard, also what you do with it, where you hook it, some people will bring it around the front re hook it. Just watch for that whenever you're walking around.

Speaker 2 5:25

If you get a little tab here, you'll get it caught sometimes and if you get it caught, that can hurt people.

Speaker 1 5:31

So, you got to watch where it is and where it's moving around.

Speaker 1 5:33

And you got this little loop going here and then the other thing is, if you're going with just a non retractable, if you're going with a regular lanyard, you just got to really look at the link of what you're going to use. Like again, we talked about for different heights, but it's also about where you're trying to reach to. Do you even want a double lanyard? If you're trying to reach way over here and you've got a single lanyard, you may need to double if they have the 100% tile. For if you're going up and down devices, you want a double lanyard.

Speaker 2 5:57

Well, and again it goes back to what are you using it for? Right, which is our last one here, yeah.

Speaker 1 6:03

Our last one is number four, the use. So we'll talk about that now. So now, what are you going to use it for? Am I going to climb a ladder?

Speaker 2 6:08

Well, this is not for positioning, no, this is for fall rest Right.

Speaker 1 6:12

This is for positioning bells.

Speaker 2 6:13

Some people do, some people want a harness, but it's important to note that a positioning belt is not for fall. It's just to keep you back from that lady. Nudge is the intent basically. And so sometimes you're flipping through the different pages or a catalog or scrolling through and you get a little overwhelmed because there are a lot of different choices.

Speaker 1 6:36

There's you can hook in on the front, you hook in in the back, hook in on the sides, and they're all designed for different uses.

Speaker 2 6:43

And so I think the biggest thing is really understanding you may not have just one style of harness at your facility based on the variety of different jobs that you could be doing at your location.

Speaker 1 6:54

You could actually, you know you can actually, you know you can actually, you know you issue a hundred harnesses to Boys. You have like 15 there for specially work.

Speaker 2 7:02

Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:02

So maybe, maybe it's, you have the retractable but you're going to have a have a lanyard getting a scissor lift. Well now, the scissor lift may be kind of almost a positioning one.

Speaker 2 7:12

Yeah, you're trying to keep that lanyard up.

Speaker 1 7:14

You keep them climbing out of the lift with the track. Well, they have the tendency to climb out, so you would go with the way with what you would go with a maybe a shorter lanyard to that.

Speaker 1 7:23

or if you're saying, look, I'm elevated work, but I only want you to go right or left, it could be something to help you. Or it could be like you said, the ladder. You're climbing up a ladder and you're going to be tied off before you lose your three points of contact. Well, make sure you're not having to lean too far to hook up, because now you're out of three points of contact before you get hooked up, and that's what we see.

Speaker 2 7:44

Yeah, we've had a lot of injuries where you're leaning outside the plane to reach the tie off point. That's been a big one. Now, keep in mind you know the disclaimer. This is based on what we've seen, our experiences in the field, from a safety side, from a confined space side, from all of that. So this is just our opinions. I'm not saying that there's not some weird one off that we might not be aware of.

Speaker 1 8:03

Absolutely. Now, if you look at this particular harness, it does not have the back belt we talked about earlier and it's not in sight because this is a confined space one Yep, I wanted streamlined, because I'm trying to get into a 18 inch, 20 inch, 24 inch opening. This is also not a stretch style. I love the stretch style for a lot of people daily use For a confined space. I don't want stretch.

Speaker 2 8:23

No, no, because when you're doing the vertical entries, I don't want the D ring up over my head. Now you'll notice also on this one it's for confined space. The location of the D ring is not blow it back. It's up a little bit higher yeah.

Speaker 1 8:36

So basically, the reason for that is that we want to go more like this.

Speaker 2 8:39

Yep, I don't want to be leaned over. So even the harness itself. You may adjust the pieces like the back D ring, based on what you're using it for. So if I'm using it for fall, I may lower that down. If I'm using it for confined space and I'm on a winch system going up and down and I want to make sure that I'm not folded in half, if they're winching me out on a non-intruder rescue, well then I'm going to raise that D ring up a little bit higher.

Speaker 1 9:04

Absolutely. And then the last thing we want to look at when we're looking at use is when you have your training, because everybody does training differently for harnesses. That's fine. I see a lot of people are training on the harness to wear for fall protection, but they actually have five other things they want to use it for.

Speaker 2 9:21

So, whatever.

Speaker 1 9:22

that is kind of like. You take the end thing, the use, and then you almost kind of back up. What are the things we need to do to make sure we meet the goal? And that's why I said a lot of places it's maybe more beneficial just to issue the harnesses to someone and say, you know what, for all that special, okay, you're going to go grab a scissor lift and yours is really made for a ladder. Well then, let's have these other langes for the scissor lift, or maybe it's you know, let's have this other style, or maybe let's have connection points if we're going to be at a certain job for a certain amount. But it's more job, scope and use. It helps you pick the style, yeah.

Speaker 2 9:53

And one of the things that I might recommend doing, even before you look at buying any kind of harnesses at all, honestly, is do some kind of elevated work, survey or a fall survey.

Speaker 1 10:05

Why even buying them?

Speaker 2 10:05

You know where do you have employees working at heights and you know on the off shifts, is it a quarterly job, annual job, what you know. Take a look at some of those PMs and where they're having to access to do some of those inspections and checks and just see you know what would work best for those different areas. Do I need a beam wrap? Do I need a double leg lanyard, like you're talking about, so that I can move?

Speaker 2 10:29

You know what do I need to do if I am in a situation where I'm being forced to maybe climb out of a scissor lift. How do I even navigate that situation, based on the scissor lift manufacturers recommendations and the fall protection equipment that I have and where I can tie off or not, you know, and really kind of hammer out some of those details and get some equipment specifically for that and some of those scenarios, so that it's not just a one size fits all. This is the harness we have at our location. You may have several different styles, like I say, your climb and binge. You may have a tie off point on the front side, you know, for some of those.

Speaker 1 11:05

So maybe the female, yeah, all right.

Speaker 1 11:07

So the last thing is that's our top four. But just to close out here, another thing you have. You have your elevator work assessment and your actual process of doing the job. So, whatever process that means, maybe I've got to go fill out a pre-check for a scissor lift, I got to check PPE. Maybe I'm going to do a ladder, I'm going to check PPE. Well, maybe the project that I'm doing is I've got to tie up somewhere high and I've never made it up there yet. So there may be not only elevator work, but it could be the one off the day where you're having, like some kind of hazard analysis or something. An elevator work hazard analysis. It says, okay for this job, even though we've done everything right, there's a one off here. We may have to change all the harness and PPE. We're looking at that's what you're going to do, so don't get caught up that we did ahead of time and it's an absolute.

Speaker 2 11:50

It's like a non-routine job analysis. So you know those are to me a non-routine. Where I would be doing some of this is if I've got something twice a year, or maybe it's quarterly different person every time Project day. Yeah, project day.

Speaker 1 12:05

So that's how you look at it. So look at your size, style, type of lander the use PPE.

Speaker 2 12:11

it's personal, you know.

Speaker 1 12:13

And to close with this entire thing is we're a safety company and I'm an engineer first and I believe you engineer out the hazard first before you add PPE. So if you are saying I need PPE to do this job, can?

Speaker 2 12:27

we add a catwalk, can we add a ladder? Can we add a platform?

Speaker 1 12:30

can we add a rolling?

Speaker 2 12:32

staircase or a user scissor lift, or how can I get out of having to use it first?

Speaker 1 12:37

Correct.

Speaker 2 12:38

Especially if it's a daily function.

Speaker 1 12:40

Absolutely so. That's our list of top four things about the harness. Even I thought of so yeah, All right guys.

Speaker 2 12:46

Well, we will see you in the new year. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. Thanks for sticking with us and take care everyone Be safe.

Speaker 3 12:54

Thank you for listening to Safe, efficient, profitable a Worker Safety Podcast. If you're looking for more in-depth discussions or step-by-step solutions on all of the different safety and regulatory topics, please visit us at wwwallonsafetycoachingcom for web-based virtual coaching and training, or at wwwallon-safetycom to book our team for on-site services, training sessions, to order merchandise, to learn more about our team and what services we provide in the field, or just simply to request a topic for us to cover on our next podcast. If you found today's podcast helpful and would like to support our podcast further, please help us by subscribing, liking and sharing this podcast with anyone that could benefit from the information we cover here, as that helps us to continue to put out this free content. Thank you so much for your support.