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Safety Focus of the Week: Personal Fall Arrest Systems (PFAS) – Revisited
As mentioned in our previous blog, Fall Protection is one of the OSHA Focus Four, which means it is one of the four most common causes of workplace fatalities. It is also a major concern to OSHA inspectors.
The general process for mitigating jobsite hazards (including fall hazards) includes:
- Training to identify the hazard
- Training to use and maintain the protective systems
- Planning the work to include measures to protect ourselves from the hazard
- Executing the plan
Simply executing the safety plan might provide a safe work site but falls short (pun intended) of providing a truly safe jobsite. This particular blog focuses on item 2, the training in the use of a PFAS. As indicated by OSHA:
Before using personal fall arrest equipment, each affected employee shall be trained to understand the application limits of the equipment and proper hook-up, anchoring, and tie-off techniques. Affected employees shall also be trained so that they can demonstrate the proper use, inspection, and storage of their equipment.
OSHA has a webpage devoted to the PFAS:
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/construction/falls/fallarrest.html
