Legal Requirements and Standards
The Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1992 require employers to maintain fall arrest equipment in good repair, including appropriate replacement. In addition, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 require that equipment which is exposed to conditions causing significant deterioration should be inspected at suitable intervals and each time circumstances which might jeopardise safety have occurred.
British Standard BS EN 365: 1993 Personal Protective Equipment against falls from a height. General requirements for instructions for use and for marking gives general requirements for periodic inspection, instructions for use and marking of PPE against falls from a height. To counter the causes of degradation listed in the introduction, the British Standard states that components should be examined 'at least twelve-monthly'. This is sometimes taken to be 'annually', although manufacturers of textile products usually recommend inspection more frequently than this.
Inspection Regime
Employers should establish a regime for the inspection of lanyards that is drawn up by a competent person.
The regime should include:
• The lanyards to be inspected (including their unique identification).
• The frequency and type of inspection (pre-use checks, detailed inspection and, where appropriate, interim inspection).
• Designated competent persons to carry out the inspections.
• Action to be taken on finding defective lanyards.
• Means of recording the inspections.
• Training of users.
• A means of monitoring the inspection regime to verify inspections are carried out accordingly.
It is essential that the person carrying out any inspection is sufficiently independent and impartial to allow them to make objective decisions, and has appropriate and genuine authority to discard defective lanyards. This does not mean that competent persons must necessarily be employed from an external company, although many manufacturers and/or suppliers offer inspection services and training in the inspection of their products.
Employers may wish to provide additional lanyards to use as replacements in the event that defective lanyards have to be taken out of use. Lanyards that are on-hire may need special consideration, to ensure that they are subject to detailed inspections (and interim inspections if appropriate) within the period specified in the regime. Hirers should be informed of any use or damage that may affect the safety of the equipment (e.g. use with chemicals).
Scope of the Inspection Regime
Lanyards should be subject to:
• Pre-use checks.
• Detailed inspections.
• (As appropriate) interim inspections.
These should be carried out by competent persons, to identify defects or damage that may affect safety.
Examples of Defects and Damage
The following defects and damage have the potential to result in the degradation and/or weakening of the lanyard:
• Cuts of 1mm or more at the edges of webbing lanyards (e.g. where the lanyard may have been choke-hitched around steelwork).
• Surface abrasion across the face of the webbing and at the webbing loops, particularly if localised.
• Abrasion at the edges, particularly if localised.
• Damage to stitching (e.g. cuts or abrasion).
• A knot in the lanyard, other than those intended by the manufacturer.
• Chemical attack which can result in local weakening and softening - often indicated by flaking of the surface. There may also be a change to the colour of the fibres.
• Heat or friction damage indicated by fibres with a glazed appearance which may feel harder than surrounding fibres.
• UV-degradation which is difficult to identify, particularly visually, but there may be some loss of colour (if dyed) and a powdery surface.
• Partially deployed energy absorber (e.g. short pull-out of tear webbing).
• Contamination (e.g. with dirt, grit, sand, etc.) which may result in internal or external abrasion.
• Damaged or deformed fittings (e.g. karabiners, screwlink connectors, scaffold hooks).
• Damage to the sheath and core of a kernmantel rope (e.g. rucking of the core detected during tactile inspection).
• Internal damage to a cable-laid rope.
Withdrawing Lanyards from Use
Lanyards should be withdrawn from use and passed to a competent person for a detailed inspection to decide whether they should continue to be used, destroyed or returned to the manufacturer for testing* to enable a product performance history to be determined, if:
• There is no evidence that a lanyard has been inspected by a competent person within the last six months.
• Identification is not evident (lanyards should be indelibly and permanently marked in accordance with BS EN 365: 1993. They should be uniquely identifiable so that they can be easily associated with their respective inspection documentation).
• A lanyard is still in use and marked to the old British Standard, BS 1397: 1979 Specification for industrial safety belts, harnesses and safety lanyards (i.e. pre CE-marking).
• A lanyard is thought to be defective, or if there is any doubt about its safety after a pre-use check or interim inspection.
* The manufacturers can advise on this issue.
A lanyard that has been used to arrest a fall should never be reused. It should be withdrawn from service immediately and destroyed or returned to the manufacturer.