Height Safety and Anchoring

You’ve seen the WorkSafe ad – “So let’s get some rails up there”. Safety when working at height no longer only resides in the consciousness of the construction industry. Thanks to national television campaigns, safety regulations compliance is now part of the public household psyche.

Since the increase in worksite safety regulations in the last twenty years or so, there have been many systems created to help prevent falls, injury, and in some cases death, such as fall arrest systems, fall restraint systems, travel restraint systems and the like.

Essentially, all systems—with the exclusion of edge protection systems, which are rigid in nature—feature a single anchor point, a line consisting of wire or webbing and a harness secured to the worker’s body.

Pass the Test

The anchor points in particular are really the most critical element. And these points are held to account by their own regulations for the validity of their pull strength. Typically, anchors are an eye bolt with an expanding mechanical-type tip that is inserted into brick or concrete.

These anchors need testing before they are able to be used. For example, with a travel restraint system, which limits a worker’s travel distance to a point that prevents a fall from a height edge, has its own specific set of rules with WorkSafe Victoria, such as:

• “…single-point anchors for fall arrest (or travel restraint) systems to be used by one person should be designed for a load of 15kN.”
• “…anchors are inspected for compliance with the requirements in clause 9.3.3 of AS 1891.4 and the inspection documented. The documentation should specify any ongoing requirement to carry out testing of anchor points.”
• “…locations of anchors comply with the requirements for safe use, safe access, the pendulum effect and signage, as stipulated in clause 3.2 of AS 1891.4.””

Do It Yourself

Getting a third-party tester onsite can be an expensive and time-consuming exercise, especially if the job to be done—like the roofers in the WorkSafe ad—is meant to be a quick one. To comply and the get to work, there are pull testers available on the market which are specifically-designed for eye bolt and cable testing that you can use yourself. A great example is the Hydrajaws Model 2000 Safety Harness Eyebolt and Ringbolt Tester, which is now available in Australia through fasteners specialists Allfasteners.

There’s no excuse to not have this unit onsite – it is small, portable and features incrementally-adjustable legs for testing on irregular surfaces. With an easy turn of the handle, and a 15kN gauge, accurate testing of eye bolts and similar anchors is made possible in seconds.