FALL PROTECTION DEFINITIONS

Fall Hazard Risk Consultants

Term Definition

Aerial lift device Equipment such as powered platforms, vehicle-mounted elevated and
rotating work platforms, extensible boom platforms, aerial ladders,
articulating boom platforms, vertical towers and powered industrial truck
platforms

Anchorage An engineered and designed point of attachment for lifelines, lanyards or

deceleration devices

Body harness Straps which may be secured about the employee in a manner that will
distribute the fall arrest forces over at least the thighs, pelvis, waist, chest
and shoulders with means for attaching it to other components of a personal
fall arrest system

Confined space (1) Is large enough and so configured that an employee can bodily enter and
perform assigned work; and
(2) Has limited or restricted means for entry or exit (for example, tanks,
vessels, silos, storage bins, hoppers, vaults, and pits are spaces that may
have limited means of entry.); and
(3) Is not designed for continuous employee occupancy

Connector A device, which is used to couple (connect) parts of the personal fall arrest
system and positioning device systems together. It may be an independent
component of the system, such as a carabiner, or it may be an integral
component of part of the system (such as a buckle or d-ring sewn into a
body belt or body harness, or a snap-hook spliced or sewn to a lanyard or
self-retracting lanyard,)

Controlled access A work area designated and clearly marked in which certain types of work
zone may take place without the use of conventional fall protection systems
(guardrail, personal arrest, or safety net) to protect the employees working
in the zone.

Deceleration device Any mechanism, such as a rope, grabbing device, ripstitch lanyard,
specially woven lanyard or automatic self-retracting lifeline/lanyard, which
serves to dissipate a substantial amount of energy during a fall arrest, or
otherwise limits the energy imposed on an employee during fall arrest

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Term Definition

Deceleration The additional vertical distance a falling employee travels, excluding lifeline
distance elongation and free fall distance, before stopping, from the point at which
the deceleration device begins to operate.
It is measured as the distance between the location of an employee's body
belt or body harness attachment point at the moment of activation (at the
onset of fall arrest forces) of the deceleration device during a fall, and the
location of that attachment point after the employee comes to a full stop

Fall hazard The act or circumstances that could result in the possibility of slipping or
tripping on or falling off a surface.

Fall restraint system A fall protection system that prevents the user from falling any distance.
The system is comprised of either a body belt or body harness, along with
an anchorage, connectors and other necessary equipment. The other
components typically include a lanyard, and may also include a lifeline and
other devices.

Fixed ladder A ladder, including individual rung ladders, which are permanently
attached to a structure, building, or equipment.

Free fall distance The vertical displacement of the fall arrest attachment point on the
employee's body belt or body harness between onset of the fall and just
before the system begins to apply force to arrest the fall.
This distance excludes deceleration distance, and lifeline/lanyard
elongation, but includes any deceleration device slide distance or self
retracting lifeline/lanyard extension before they operate and fall arrest
forces occur

Guardrail system A 42 barrier erected to prevent employees from falling to lower levels

Hole A void or gap 2 inches or more in its least dimension in a floor, roof, or
other walking/working surface

Horizontal lifeline A flexible line between two horizontal fixed anchorages to which a fall
arrest device is connected

Infeasible Impossible to perform the work using a conventional fall protection system
(i.e., guardrail system, safety net system, or personal fall arrest system) or
that it is technologically impossible to use any one of these systems to
provide fall protection

Ladder A device typically used to gain access to a different elevation consisting of

two or more structural members crossed by rungs, steps, or cleats

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Term Definition

Lanyard A flexible line of rope, wire rope, or strap that has a connector at each end
for connecting the body harness and to an anchorage point.

Leading edge The edge of a floor, roof, or formwork for a floor or other walking/working
surface (such as a deck) which changes location as additional floor, roof,
decking, or formwork sections are placed, formed, or constructed.

Lifeline A component consisting of a flexible line for connection to an anchorage at

one end to hang vertically (vertical lifeline), or for connection to anchorages
at both ends to stretch horizontally (horizontal lifeline), that serves as a
means for connecting other components of a personal fall arrest system to
an anchorage.

Lower levels Those areas or surfaces to which and employee can fall. Such areas include,
but are not limited to, ground levels, floors, platforms, ramps, runways,
excavations, pits tanks, material, water, equipment, structures

Low-sloped roof A roof having a slope less than or equal to 4 in 12 (vertical to horizontal).

Maximum Arrest Maximum dynamic loads applied to fall protection system and anchorage
Force (MAF) points

Maximum Intended The total load of all employee, equipment, tool, materials, transmitted,
Load wind, and other loads reasonably anticipated to be applied to a scaffold or
scaffold component at any one time

Opening A gap or void 30 inches (76 centimeters) or more high and 18 inches (46
centimeters) or more wide, in a wall or partition through which employees
can fall to a lower level.

Parapet A parapet surrounding the edge of a roof at least 42 inches for all general
industry work

Permit-required A confined space that has one or more of the following characteristics:
confined space
(1) Contains or has a potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere;
(2) Contains a material that has the potential for engulfing an entrant;
(3) Has an internal configuration such that an entrant could be trapped or
asphyxiated by inwardly converging walls or by a floor which slopes
downward and tapers to a smaller cross-section; or
(4) Contains any other recognized serious safety or health hazard.

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Term Definition

Personal fall arrest A system used to arrest an employee in a fall from a working level.
system (PFAS) It consists of an anchorage, connectors, full body harness and may include a
lanyard, deceleration device, lifeline, or suitable combinations of these.
As of January 1, 1998, the use of a body belt for fall arrest is prohibited

Personal Protective Protective equipment designed for the eyes, face, ears and body extremities
Equipment (PPE)

Rescue plan Strategy or procedure, planned in advance and practiced by designated

rescue personnel, to retrieve safely a person who has fallen from an elevated
work surface and who remains suspended in a full body harness, unable to
perform self-rescue

Retrieval system Equipment (including a retrieval line, chest or full-body harness, wristlets, if
appropriate, and a lifting device or anchor) used for non-entry rescue of
persons from permit spaces

Rope grab A deceleration device that travels on a lifeline and automatically, by friction,
engages the lifeline and locks so as to arrest the fall of an employee.
A rope grab usually employs the principle of inertial locking, cam/level
locking, or both

Safety monitoring A safety system in which a competent person is responsible for recognizing
system and warning employees of fall hazards.

Scaffold Any temporary elevated or suspended platform, at its supporting

structures, used for supporting employees or materials or both

Self-retracting A deceleration device containing a drum-wound line which can be slowly

lifeline (SRL) extracted from, or retracted onto, the drum under slight tension during
normal employee movement, and which, after onset of a fall, automatically
locks the drum and arrests the fall

Snaphook A connector consisting of a hook-shaped member with a normally closed

keeper, or similar arrangement, which may be opened to permit the hook to
receive an object and, when released automatically closes to retain the
object. Only locking snap hooks are permitted.

Steep roof A roof having a slope greater than 4 in 12 (vertical to horizontal).

Swing fall A condition that exists when a workers anchorage point is not directly
above the worker when he falls, causing his body to act like a pendulum,
and greatly increasing the likelihood of him striking an object, scaffold or
building when falling

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Term Definition

Tie-off adapter Provides temporary anchorage point for fall protection system

Toe board A low protective barrier that prevents material and equipment from falling
to lower levels and which protects personnel from falling

Total Fall Distance This distance includes free fall distance + deceleration distance + harness d-
ring slide + height of individual + safety factor
Any side or edge (except at entrances to points of access) of a
Unprotected sides
and edges walking/working surface (e.g., floor, roof, ramp, or runway) where
there is no wall or guardrail system at least 39 inches (1 meter) high
Vertical lifeline A component consisting of a flexible line for connection to an anchor point
at one end to hang vertically and that serves as a means for connecting other
components of a personal fall arrest system to the anchor point

Walking/working Any surface, whether horizontal or vertical, on which an employee walks or

surface works, including but not limited to floors, roofs, ramps, bridges, runways,
formwork, and concrete reinforcing steel. Does not include ladders,
vehicles, or trailers on which employees must be located to perform their
work duties.

Warning line A barrier erected on a roof to warn employees that they are approaching an
system unprotected roof side or edge and which designates an area in which
roofing work may take place without the use of guardrail, body belt, or
safety net systems to protect employees in the area

Work area Portion of a walking/working surface where job duties are being
performed

100% protection Remaining connected to one anchor point while connecting to the next
anchor point; i.e., not disconnecting from one point before connecting to the
next.

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Copyright 2012, Bill Reichle Associates, LLC. All Rights Reserved