“ When standards do not cover all the aspects of a particular product ’ s features and performance , we often receive instructions from clients to generate a test specification to cover those aspects , to satisfactorily demonstrate that the product has undergone a comprehensive testing regime .”
Q Are you a member of any specific associations and if so , how do these organisations influence your company ?
International Society for Fall Protection ( ISFP )
“ The ISFP help us to demonstrate our competency to potential clients by giving us a platform to disseminate the results of our research and by the publishing of our research papers .”
Height Safety Group ( HSG )
“ Membership of the BSIF Height Safety Group allows us to meet and interact with other companies within the field of fall protection , whether manufacturers , installers , test laboratories or the Health & Safety Executive ( HSE ). This allows discussions about current issues within the market place and how these might be addressed . It also allows our views to be presented to Government departments and European safety organisations . As a result of these relationships , the HSG are often informed in advance about forthcoming legislation , codes of practice and standards , and we are usually asked for comment , thus allowing our influence in respect of these documents .
“ For the first time this year , we were asked by the Slips , Trips and Falls conference to present some of our research to an international audience . The topics included : ( i ) an introduction to fall protection ; ( ii ) can hooped ladders prevent falls ?; and ( iii ) performance of horizontal lifelines . This particular conference usually deals with falls on the level only , but this year decided to include the topic of falls from a height within its programme .”
RESEARCH
Although Safety Squared has carried out private research , the company ’ s largest contracts have come from the HSE , amounting to some £ 0.5 million over 8 years .
Q Can you tell us more about your involvement in research ?
“ The areas of research that we have been involved in are as follows . Most of these areas of research are published and available on the HSE ’ s website , and there are also details on our own website , at : www . safetysquared . net
• Contract Research Report CRR411 / 2002 - Analysis and evaluation of different types of test surrogate employed in the dynamic performance testing of fall-arrest equipment .
www . hse . gov . uk / research / crr _ htm / 2002 / crr02411 . htm
“ This compared how the performance of fall protection equipment is affected by the choice of surrogate used in testing , e . g . steel weight , sandbag , torso dummy or fully anthropomorphic ( human like ) dummy , in place of a human being .”
• Research Report RR258 - Preliminary investigation into the fall-arresting effectiveness of ladder safety hoops www . hse . gov . uk / research / rrhtm / rr258 . htm
“ This research found that caged ladders cannot provide positive fall protection . As a result , all mention of caged ladders as a protective measure were removed from the Working at Height Regulations . American legislation appears to be following suit . Some vertical rail-based fallarrest systems were also assessed and were compared with caged ladders . Some of these systems were found to be incapable of arresting falls or were arresting falls over too large a distance . The research was used to propose changes to test methods within standards .”
• Research Report RR266 - A review of criteria concerning design , selection , installation , use , maintenance and training aspects of temporarilyinstalled horizontal lifelines www . hse . gov . uk / research / rrhtm / rr266 . htm
“ This involved a survey of research papers , manufacturers and standards so that a HSE guidance note could be written to establish best practice within the industry .”
• Research Report RR657 - Investigation into the fallarresting effectiveness of ladder safety hoops , when used in conjunction with various fall-arrest systems www . hse . gov . uk / research / rrhtm / rr657 . htm
“ Sixty-eight fall simulation tests were carried out by using an instrumented anthropomorphic test dummy ( ATD ). In each test , the ATD was inserted inside a caged ladder and was attached to a fall-arrest system ( FAS ), before being released in one of three falling postures . Seventeen different FAS ’ were evaluated , which included retractable fall-arresters , energy-absorbing lanyards , sliding fall-arresters on rope , rail and cable , and eight different harnesses . In 37 tests , the FAS arrested the fall in a manner which would have been very dangerous in a real life situation . In 25 tests , harness straps migrated out of position to such an extent that the neck of the ATD became either severely garrotted or severely pressurised on the side , which also would have been life-threatening in a real life situation .”
• Project RSU290 - A review of retractable fall-arresters and their use in non-overhead and other applications not catered for by the test methods within BS EN 360
“ This report has not been released by HSE as yet , although part of it has been disclosed to the European standards-writing committee responsible for the revision of EN 360 .
“ The tests within BS EN 360 do not recreate the falling conditions that can occur in non-overhead applications and in other configurations , so the retractable fall-arrester ’ s ability to arrest a fall cannot be assessed , and therefore remains unknown . The retractable fall-arrester might be able to perform safely , or it may fail catastrophically , resulting in serious or fatal injuries to the worker it is seeking to protect .
“ Overall , the research demonstrated that BS EN 360 as a standard is grossly deficient in its ability to assess the performance and other technical aspects of retractable fall- �
HSE INTERNATIONAL 21