Protecting Against Falls from Heights: Updated Guide and New App

June 16, 2015

The Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST) has updated its technical guide Protecting against Falls from Heights – Horizontal Lifeline Design and launched an online application that incorporates the main parameters required for designing horizontal lifelines.

This new version of the guide reflects amendments made to Quebec’s Safety Code for the Construction Industry that require a lanyard, which connects a worker’s safety harness to the anchoring system, to be equipped with an energy absorber. It proposes a new analytical method for designing horizontal lifeline systems (HLSs), which was put through 42 dynamic tests of falls from heights to study the influence of a number of parameters (span, anchorage flexibility, cable diameter, deflection, etc.) on horizontal lifelines, as well as through digital simulations and double validation. The tests showed that the experimental results were consistent with those obtained using the proposed analytical method.

The design app, intended primarily for engineers specializing in the design of active fall protection systems, can be used to design horizontal lifeline systems (HLSs), also called flexible continuous anchorage systems. This new tool offers a user-friendly way to calculate cable tension and deflection for fall arrest purposes, as well as the clearance required in relation to the cable. The app can also be used by prevention officers to check the compliance of an existing system, but it does not replace the expert opinion of an engineer.

“The guide and application will help engineers test the validity of their systems or certain working assumptions at the predesign or design stages or in the field,” says Bertrand Galy, an IRSST researcher and co-developer of the application. “As a result, they will be able to perform their calculations faster and provide consulting expertise at lower cost… These resources could also be used in fall prevention training sessions.”

Thousands of falls from heights occur every year in Canada, many fatal, even though under Quebec and other jurisdictons’ regulations workers exposed to a risk of falling three metres or more must be secured.

The online app can also be accessed from a mobile platform (tablet or smartphone). Along with the guide, it is available free of charge at www.irsst.qc.ca/en/publications-tools/publication/i/100859/n/corde-assurance-horizontale.