The harness can either be made up from rope, cables or wirings depending on the design of the harness and where it will be used. In addition to the lanyard, there is also a shock absorber device which will help regulate the force when decelerating.
Classifications of a Harness
Generally, a harness connected to the lifeline equipment has four classifications which are used depending on the industry where they will be used and what level of safety is necessary for the tasks.
- Class 1 - this pertains to the simplest kind of protection which involves body belts. Designed with either a single or double rings, while it reduces the possibility of the worker to fall, it should only be used by workers who have low level of falling risk and where their tasks only need positioning and not falling.
- Class 2 - this refers to the chest harness lifeline equipment used in a setup where the falling risk is limited. It includes tasks which does not involve vertical fall or similar tasks which will have to bear the full weight of the wearer.
- Class 3 - this includes full body harness which can allow any movement and can even withstand a forceful kind of falls. These harnesses are of course coupled with shock absorber devices which help in decreasing the force of the fall.
- Class 4 - this refers to suspension belts which are made entirely for the purpose of carrying heavy weight. The tasks which make use of this class of harness includes the lowering of harness and similar activities.
Different Uses of a Full Body Harness
When attached to a lifeline equipment, there are different uses where a full body harness can be used. The great thing about this kind of harness is that different rings attached in the harness can be used for different purposes depending on the system used and the task which is needed to be accomplished.
- Fall arrest - a line is connected to the d-ring located in the middle part back of the harness.
- Travel restraint - while this has the same connection with the fall arrest structure of the harness, some experts include another connection of the lifeline equipment on the lower back part of the harness.
- Work positioning - the d-rings which are located on the sides of the hip are connected with a lanyard.
- Descent - when in descent mode, the d-rings which are located in the chest part as well as the middle front of the waist are used. It could just be the d-ring on the chest part or the combination of using both rings.
- Safety systems in ladder climbing - this includes using the d-rings located in between the chest and waist to be connected to the lifeline equipment.