HARNESSES

Our innovative work safety harnesses set new standards for safety, comfort, and ease of use. Certified to European and international standards, they meet all the technical requirements for the various areas of use at height.

Fall arrest harnesses (EN 361)

Fall arrest harnesses are restraint devices for the body, designed to catch the free fall of a person. They consist of webbing, fitting components, buckles and other individual parts arranged in such a way that the harness supports the whole body of a person, straightens it up during the arrest and keeps it in an upright position during hanging. Fall arrest harnesses are manufactured and certified in accordance with the EN 361 standard. The EN 361 standard also allows fall arrest harnesses to be integrated into items of clothing such as high-visibility vests or life jackets.

Special requirements for fall arrest harnesses:

The fall arrest harness must ensure that the user is safely caught and suspended. Additionally, the safe functioning of the equipment must be easy to check. According to the standard, the following requirements must be met to guarantee the above:

• the chest, shoulder and leg loops must be adjustable so that the harness can be optimally adapted to the body
• all load-bearing webbing in the fall arrest harness must have a minimum width of 40 mm
• all fall arrest eyelets must be above the user’s center of gravity so that the body is held upright after a fall
• all fall arrest eyelets must be marked with the letter A
• for easy inspection, all seams must be in a contrasting color to the webbing

Fall arrest eyelet labeling

All fall arrest eyelets must be marked with the letter A. To make it easier to put on the harness, the sternal fall arrest eyelet, i.e. the eyelet in the chest area, is often divided into two parts. The two parts must always be combined in order to obtain a complete eyelet and these are therefore marked A/2. If the harness has further D-rings (e.g. lateral eyelets) which are not marked with the letter A, these must not be used for fall arrest.

Work positioning harnesses (EN 358)

A work positioning harness is used as a restraint from an edge or for work positioning on a structure. At most, work positioning harnesses may be loaded in the sense of "leaning onto them". As soon as free hanging is possible, other or additional systems must be used. Eyelets are principally arranged around the hip belt. Most work positioning harness have two lateral, i.e. side retaining eyelets made of metal or textile. But frontal or dorsal eyelets can also be certified according to EN 358. Because even "leaning on" can sometimes take a while, the standard requires a minimum width of the hip belt webbing or padding.

Fall arrest and work positioning harnesses (EN 361/EN 358)

Fall arrest and work positioning harnesses meet the requirements for fall arrest harnesses according to EN 361 as well as those for work positioning harnesses according to EN 358. Fall arrest and work positioning harnesses are equipped with one chest (sternal) and/or one rear (dorsal) fall arrest eyelet in accordance with EN 361 and additionally with two lateral positioning eyelets for workplace positioning in accordance with EN 358. This makes fall arrest and work positioning harnesses the ideal harnesses for all applications where the user not only needs to secure themselves against falling, but also (e.g. when climbing masts or antennas) to secure themselves temporarily in order to be able to work with both hands.

Seat harnesses (EN 813)

Seat harnesses (also known as waist belts) have a ventral, i.e. front tie-in eyelet. This tie-in eyelet may be loaded in the sense of free hanging in a deliberate manner, e.g. in combination with abseiling devices in accordance with EN 12841-C. Seat harnesses that comply exclusively with the EN 813 standard are generally used in the area of SRT in tree care, where working without a fall arrest system is permitted. In accordance with EN 813, in rope access technology, seat harnesses are always equipped with a chest harness which converts them into a fall arrest harness in accordance with EN 361. Since most seat harnesses also have lateral eyelets, the triple certified harnesses (EN 813, EN 358 and EN 361) of rope access technology are the absolute all-rounders of fall protection.

Arborist harnesses (EN 358/EN 813)

Arborist harnesses are usually certified as seat and work positioning harnesses. They also have some special features that make working in the tree easier. In most cases, a sliding rope bridge, the so-called Sliding D, serves as the harness attachment point. The movable attachment point offers the arborist the greatest possible freedom of movement, as one moves much more three-dimensionally in the tree than, for example, in industrial climbing. In addition, in accordance with EN 358, arborist harnesses have two lateral eyelets so that they can be secured in the tree with connecting elements if, for example, work has to be carried out with both hands (e.g. using a chainsaw). Arborist harnesses can be combined with a chest harness but do not necessarily have to be certified according to EN 361 as a fall arrest harness.

Evacuation triangles and rescue loops (EN 1498)

These are rescue loops or specially manufactured rescue triangles which enable an injured person to be directly attached to a rescue system according to EN 363. In an emergency, the person to be rescued can be quickly removed from the danger zone. Rescue loops fall into three separate classes:

• class A: the rescue loop is designed in such a way that the person to be rescued is held by straps fitted under the back and arms
• class B: the rescue loop is designed so the straps of the rescue loop hold the person to be rescued in a seated position during the rescue procedure
• class C: the rescue loop is designed to hold the person to be rescued in a head-down position during the rescue, with the straps of the rescue loop around the ankles