Abstract
Injuries and fatalities from falling remain a major occupational safety concern. Among the multiple tactics for preventing fatal falls is the use of personal fall protection involving wearing a harness connected to a secure anchor point. This requires training to ensure trainees understand the importance of fall protection and have the skill to implement it correctly. One important skill is donning a fall protection harness and adjusting the straps. Those who conduct training on fall protection need to coach trainees through the steps involved in donning a harness. This study was undertaken to learn the benefits of practicing with the guidance of a coach. The experiment had university student volunteers watch a training video twice and then don a harness four times while being coached. Times for each of the five steps involved in donning and adjusting a harness were obtained for the 22 subjects who completed all steps. Time was used as the measure of skill level. The step of adjusting the leg straps accounted for the most time in all of the four repetitions. Total time to don fall protection was reduced with practice. The reduction followed a learning curve function based on a power model. According to this model, each doubling of the number of repetitions results in a 22.1% reduction in total time to don the harness.
Highlights
Many workers are exposed to the risk of falling from an elevated position
The research described in this article examined a particular aspect of personal fall protection—
We suggest conducting studies like ours to compare different leg-strap mechanisms in order to learn about what may be characterized as a trade-off between the time of adjusting and getting a perfect fit
Summary
Many workers are exposed to the risk of falling from an elevated position. Results of falls vary, but many falls end in blunt force trauma causing serious injury and death [1](p. 17). Many workers are exposed to the risk of falling from an elevated position. But many falls end in blunt force trauma causing serious injury and death [1]. This article provides data on the incidence of occupational deaths from falling, compares fall-related death rates among four large industrial sectors, summarizes strategies for protecting workers exposed to fall hazards, and presents the rationale for investigating the strategy of using personal fall-protection equipment to save a worker after a fall. The research described in this article examined a particular aspect of personal fall protection—. Training people to don a fall-protection harness and adjust the straps to achieve a fit conforming with recommendations.
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