How to use a Harness?

How to use a Harness?

A safety harness is a part of rope access equipment. It is a type of protective equipment, which is designed to protect a person, animal, or object from injury or damage. The harness attachment points are the unsung hero on a full-body harness. Without the simplest way to attach the employee to a fall protection system or anchorage point, the full-body harness would be useless.

Different fall protection applications need different types of connection points. Fall protection equipment can solely work properly once it's used properly. To reduce the misuse of a full-body harness, we are going to explain the most common types of harness connection points, where they are located, and how they are meant to function.

Although there are many different styles of a full-body harness that are used within the fall protection industry, there are some elements that are considered harness standards. In most cases, harness attachment points will be made out of metal D-rings.

The connection point used for fall arrest purposes (fall protection) is usually a D-ring that is located on the back of the harness between the shoulder blades. This location is ideal for fall arrest purposes because it evenly distributes the forces of fall arrest across a person’s body.

The dorsal D-ring will typically be connected to a shock-absorbing lanyard or a self-retracting lanyard, depending on the location. However, other forms of fall protection devices can also be attached to the dorsal D-ring. 

A harness that is designed for work positioning will have a pair of D-rings located in the lower waist area at the front of the harness. This type of fall protection allows a worker to have both of their hands-frees to work while they remain connected to the work area. It should be noted that this system is not the same as fall arrest, but instead, this system is a form of fall restraint.