What is a Fall Arrest System?
A Fall Arrest System provides protection after a fall has taken place by stopping the worker or object before it hits the surface; there are two types of fall arrest system available – ‘Collective fall arrest systems’ and ‘Personal fall arrest systems’.
What are the Two Types of Fall Arrest Systems?
There are two major types of fall arrest systems, these are:
Collective – This refers to systems which allow maximum freedom of movement from the worker. These include hand or guard rails which act as edge protection and provide full safe, unrestricted access and nets such as the catchfan.
Personal – This refers to a system which is used to stop a worker in a fall before the worker hits the surface. This system consists of a body harness, anchorage, connectors, a lanyard, lifeline or deceleration device or any combination of these.
Examples of fall arrest systems
This system includes a Fall Arrest Davit, Fully Adjustable base, Kentledge block (precast concrete block) and lanyard. Once setup, this particular system can be moved around a site using a forklift.
View: Trailersafe
An example of a collective fall arrest system.
This system is fitted at angles to a building structure and catches or absorbs the impact of a fall from a person or object. This Catchfan comes in a standard size of 6M or 4M in length and projects from the building structure by 3.2M.
View: Catchfan
An example of Edge Protection.
This system protects workers against falling from height and is usually made up of guardrails or steel mesh barriers held in place by posts.
Fall Arrest Vs Fall restraint: What is the difference?
A fall arrest system will stop a worker in the process of a fall before they reach the surface, whilst a fall restraint system will prevent a worker from reaching the edge thereby not allowing the worker to fall.
