Fall Arrest Lanyards

Video 26 of 42
7 min 46 sec
English
English
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What we are going to look at now are the fall arrest lanyards. These particular fall arrest lanyards are what we know in the trade as Y-lanyards because they actually show the letter Y, as I am demonstrating now. How these are used will be demonstrated later on, but take in mind, we do need to do our pre-use inspection on all items of equipment that we're going to use. How do we do a pre-use inspection on lanyards? The easiest way for me to first start to do my inspection is by finding the information relative to this piece of equipment, very much like all the other equipment that we have been inspecting. The first thing I need is my identification label. My identification label is giving me all the relevant information that I need yet again. First and foremost is my serial number. I need to make sure that my serial number on this piece of equipment is fully legible so that I can trace it back to its formal inspection records. Once I have seen that I have got my serial number fully legible, yes, there will be a manufacturer's date on it, 05-09-13. That is the date it was manufactured and then it has its lifespan from that date. Also, it does have on here what the identification of this particular piece of kit is, which is RGL81, telling me that this is lanyards, Y-lanyards.

And it is also telling me the actual length of the lanyards, and what the EM number for them is, which is 355. Once I have gone through that information and I am happy with the information I can see on this label, I then need to do a proper pre-use inspection on them. Starting from the top, I have a captivated carabiner. Captivated means that when it is attached, it has a pin, as you can see here going through, so as we cannot take this carabiner away from this item of equipment. First and foremost, I need to check to make sure I am happy with the carabiner. As we know in the industry, we must have a minimum of two actions when it comes to any kind of connector. With the carabiner here, this is what they call a triple lock. I have to pull it up, to twist, to be able to open it and I need to make sure that that works, and it will spring back on its own, so as it cannot be automatically opened. Also check the condition of it, making sure you are happy with the condition of the carabiner. From the carabiner, what I need to look at then is this piece here, this block here. And what this block is designed for is to minimise the distance and consequences of a fall and also to stop you from falling and it being a shock loaded impact, to a point where it could cause you serious injury.

This is what they call an energy absorber. When our carabiner is connected to our energy absorber, we need to make sure that we can see that it has not already been activated, so we do not want to see any material extruding where the plastic is, apart from where it is connected to the carabiner. We also need to check around the casing of this to make sure there is no damage done to it, no splits where it could potentially be from a Stanley knife when you have been working, or any kind of thing like that. Again, we are looking at the webbing here to make sure that that has not been deployed in any way. We then come to our ring, O-ring here, making sure that that is in good condition, and then our ropes. Our ropes coming down, they need to be looked at as well. Now, take in mind sometimes you will come across lanyards where it will not be a rope, it will actually be material. We prefer to use the rope ones, there is no specific reason why. It is just more comfortable for us. So, inspection of the ropes, we can see it has got a plastic captivation in the rope here, we need to make sure that that is in place so that it is minimising the wear and tear on the rope. And then it has been heat sealed around where they have actually stitched the rope together here, so I need to make sure there is no damage done there.

The actual rope that we are looking at here is what we call low stretch kernmantle rope. This rope is very, very strong. On the outside of the rope here, where we have got the protection, that is there to protect what is inside and inside there we have about 13 to 14 strands of nylon, and those 13 to 14 strands of nylon, believe you me, are really, really strong, to the point if I wanted to actually take the outer sheet off here and hang somebody off it, I could actually cut them one at a time and it will still hold an average weighted man off one strand of that nylon. How do I inspect the rope? Well, I need to give it a good visual and have a good feel of the rope, to make sure I cannot feel any lumps or anything in the rope. And I am looking for any damage done to the outer core of the rope, making sure that I cover all areas of the rope, a good feel down it, making sure that there is no visual damage or anything else like that. I can also do what they call a roll test and if I just roll it like so and it is a nice even role all the way around, that is telling me that there is no damage done inside.

Sometimes, though, you might find it will get a serious kink in it. And if it gets that kink in it, then that is potentially because there is damage done inside. I then come down to getting closer to the very end on the one side. Again, we have got heat shrink on here to protect where the rope has been stitched together. And then we come to what we call a scaff hook. The reason why it is called a scaff hook, obviously, is because it will actually fit around a scaffolding pole quite comfortably. Again, we have to have two means of operation to open this. So, for me to open this, I do need to press the back to be able to open the front. As part of my inspection, I would be checking to make sure it will not open on its own and it does fully enclose when I release it.

As we can see, that was actually done that for me, so I know that that is in good working order. I will then just give it a quick check around to make sure I cannot see any visual damage. Once I have done the one side there, not forgetting this little bit here, which is very important, this here is actually put in place to try and protect your rope a little bit more, so when we are actually using this piece of equipment, the rope will not get damaged. It also has attached to this piece of rope here, an additional ring. So, we do need to inspect that ring, and the reason why we have this protector on the rope and this ring here is because we can actually utilise the rope as an attachment point as well on this particular type of the lanyard.

Once I have actually done the one side, I then need to go to the opposite side and go through the same roll again. So, I need to visually feel and touch the rope to make sure I am happy with it, checking that there is no damage done to it. If need be, if I feel something I am not happy with, give it the roll test, checking where, obviously, all the stitching is, making sure I am happy with that, coming to my scaff hook again, making sure it takes two operations to open it, will not open on its own, it is shut properly, visual. Happy with that. I now know that I can actually put this into operation and attach it to my harness, ready to do some working at height.