Put a Ring on It: Selecting the Best Fall Protection Harness Configuration for Workers At-Height

Choosing the right fall protection equipment is crucial for protecting workers at-height, but it is equally important that it is correctly used.

• By Philip Jacklin
• Oct 15, 2024

Providing fall protection equipment to employees is one thing, but employers must ensure they supply the right equipment for their workers and whatever tasks they will need to accomplish during their shifts. According to a study conducted by the Center for Construction Research & Training (CPWR) in 2021, nearly 60% of fatal falls discussed with respondents involved workers wearing fall protection equipment. The same survey also identified improper use of equipment as the third leading underlying cause of fatal falls, so this data suggests that the severity of a fall injury can be affected by the user’s proper use of their equipment.  

While it is important to provide fall protection to workers exposed to fall hazards, it is equally important (arguably more important) to ensure the correct equipment is provided. Workers must be trained on the limitations of their equipment, not just the features & benefits the equipment can provide. Let’s focus on the importance of donning a fall protection harness properly, the different features available and their benefits, and why including more features does not always equate to a safer harness. 

The Importance of Wearing a Fall Protection Harness (Correctly) 

Before discussing the different features and use applications, it is important to know why wearing a harness is so important for workers at heights. More importantly, users must don the harness properly each time to function correctly during fall arrest. An ill-fitting or poorly adjusted harness can cause further injury or can cause the user to be ejected from their harness during a fall. Routine fit checks by safety leadership can help keep workers accountable and offer employers opportunities to retrain employees who fail to wear their harness according to manufacturer instructions.   

Also, OSHA requires workers to perform pre-use inspections when they don a harness. If a harness does not fit properly, it would be eligible to fail the inspection and must be brought to the organization’s Competent Person for further evaluation or replacement.  

When most falls occur, people fall headfirst towards the ground or the next lower level beneath them. Wearing a fall protection harness ensures that the victim’s body is reoriented in an upright position, which provides two benefits: (1) the user is in a safer position for the body to endure the fall forces incurred from the fall, and (2) decrease chances of the user’s head hitting the ground during a fall. 

Different Rings Mean Different Things 

The most important d-ring on a fall protection harness is the Dorsal D-Ring. This is the only d-ring on a harness that is rated for fall arrest applications with either overhead or foot-level anchorages. When the harness is properly adjusted, the dorsal d-ring should be centered just between the user’s shoulder blades. If the dorsal d-ring is too high, the snaphook of their connection device could hit the back of their head during fall arrest. If the dorsal d-ring is too low, the user risks not being reoriented in the safest position.

In recent years Side D-Rings have grown in popularity and are included on many harnesses. However, many workers fail to use these d-rings correctly and the consequences can be disastrous. Side d-rings can never be used for fall arrest. They are intended only for travel restraint or work positioning applications. If a user were to fall while being connected to their side d-ring, the harness could fail to hold them or, at the very least, could cause severe injury to the worker.  

Travel restraint is when a worker is tied off to their anchorage with a connection device that is shorter in length than their distance to the unprotected edge. An example of this would be a worker connecting their 6ft lanyard to an anchor point that is 10ft away from the edge of their walking working surface, utilizing one side d-ring on their harness. This is an incredibly safe way of working because the user’s equipment prevents them from nearing the edge, thus virtually eliminating the chance of a fall occurring.  

Work positioning is when a worker is held in a certain working position by their fall protection equipment so they can use both hands to perform a task, instead of using their hands to maintain their balance. An example of this would be a worker assembling a rebar column. Often, rebar workers will use a Y-shaped chain lanyard that connects standard snaphooks to both side d-rings on one end and the other end is a larger snaphook (often referred to as a “Rebar” or “Pelican” hook) that connects directly to the rebar column. In this scenario, workers often work simultaneously in fall arrest with a self-retracting lifeline (SRL) connected to an overhead anchorage.   

Historically, Chest D-Rings had very limited use applications and were primarily used to connect workers to winches or other descension equipment, keeping the dorsal d-ring free for their fall arrest connection device. These were mainly used in confined space applications. However, with OSHA’s recent update to the 1910.28 standard requiring ladder safety systems on fixed ladders 24ft or taller, chest d-rings will only become more common in the future. Ladder safety systems utilize a shuttle device that stays in line with the ladder climber and must connect into the chest d-ring. Some manufacturers have placed this front d-ring as low as the waist level, but those harness styles are waning in occurrence.  

Last but not least is the option for Shoulder D-Rings on a harness. Their primary function is to provide an attachment point to facilitate upright entry into or retrieval from confined space areas. These are commonly used with spreader bar devices to aid in lowering/raising a worker into/from an area where they do not have the means to climb up and down with the aid of a ladder. Shoulder d-rings can also be combined with a Y-shaped rescue lanyard to retrieve fallen workers, which may be necessary for some facilities’ rescue plans.

When organizations have diverse work crews, it can be tempting to provide workers with harnesses with more d-rings than may be necessary. However, the potential for misuse can arise, and workers can mistakenly connect to d-rings that are not properly rated. For example, a worker with limited flexibility might connect their SRL (intended for fall arrest) to one of their side d-rings. Not only would this violate ANSI guidelines and manufacturer instructions, but the worker could be exposed to extreme fall forces and further injury if a fall were to occur. As stated previously, workers must be trained on the limitations of their equipment, not just the features & benefits the additional equipment can provide. Misusing fall protection equipment can sometimes cause as much or more harm than if it were not used at all. 

Better Planning & Building Design Can Help Remove Harnesses  

If workers are required to wear a fall protection harness during their task, then they must wear it properly to ensure its effectiveness. However, utilizing methods such as hazard elimination (performing tasks on the ground) or fall prevention (installing guardrail) can be more effective in keeping workers safe and preventing injuries. In both scenarios, workers would never have to don a harness, and thus, employers would not have to worry about potential misuse or workers neglecting to use the equipment.   

Obviously, these two methods take meticulous planning and coordination to accomplish, but the benefits to employers & employees are substantial. From a safety perspective, eliminating risk should always be preferred to mitigating risk. Risk mitigation is susceptible to equipment failure or misuse, but hazard elimination attempts to remove risk from the scenario entirely.   

To decrease the amount of fall injuries and fatalities that occur each year, invest in resources to prevent falls from occurring in the first place. Any organization can begin this work at any time. Companies can mandate safer building designs from their architects, general contractors can mandate safer practices from their subcontractors, and safety managers can advocate for hazard elimination over configuring complicated fall protection systems that are only as effective as the training programs delivered to employees. Even then, fall arrest equipment can only mitigate the injuries a worker will suffer; it cannot prevent the fall. Preventing falls will save lives, and every worker deserves to go home safely at the end of every shift.

This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.