General advice on inspection regimes for personal equipment used to provide protection against falls from a height and is intended to give information on the frequency, procedure and level of detail of inspection and the type of records which must be kept.
It does not give information about the criteria for inspecting individual products, methods of care or cleaning, or information about storage and or maintenance. Employers should consult the manufacturer and/or supplier of the equipment for any product-specific inspection requirements.
The WAHR places duties on employers and other duty holders concerned with managing or carrying out work at height.
12. – (1) This regulation applies only to work equipment to which regulation 8 and Schedules 2 to 6 apply.
Regulation 12 only applies to equipment which is not an existing place of work. This guidance is intended to cover only personal protective equipment (PPE).
In addition to the requirements in WAHR, there are also requirements in BS EN 365: 2004, BS 8437 and BS EN 15567which contain both general and specific information on periodic inspection of fall protection equipment.
There is a wide range of possible causes of degradation of materials used in fall protection equipment (including abuse, general wear and tear, edge/surface damage, ultraviolet light, dirt, grit, chemicals, dropping, subjection to excessive loading, falls).
Textiles deteriorate slowly with age regardless of use. However, the most common cause of strength loss in textile equipment is through abrasion (either by grit working into the strands or by chafing against sharp or rough edges) or by other damage such as cuts.
Textile equipment that has suffered a high shock load (impact force), or has had a load dropped on to it, should be scrapped. Recent research has highlighted that there is no well-defined boundary (e.g. usable life) separating equipment that is safe and that which is not.
The safest course of action is to scrap any component about which there is any doubt. Proof load testing should not be carried out on textile components or (usually) on components used in conjunction with textile components (e.g. rope grabs).
Inspection regime
Employers should establish a regime for the inspection of equipment that is drawn up by a competent person. The regime should include:
• the equipment to be inspected (including their unique identification);
• the frequency and type of inspection (pre-use checks, detailed, interim inspection);
• designated competent persons to carry out the inspections;
• action to be taken on finding defective products;
• 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 take the appropriate action.
This does not mean that competent persons must necessarily be employed from an external company, although many WAHSA members offer both inspection services and training in the inspection of their products.
EN 365 4.4 d
When deemed necessary by the manufacture ,eg due to the complexity or innovation of the equipment ,or where safety critical knowledge is needed in the dismantling reassembly, or assessment of the equipment,(e.g. .retractable type fall arrester ),an instruction specifying that the periodic examinations shall only be conducted by the manufacture or by a person or organisation authorised by the manufacturer see EN 365 4.4b EVERY 12 MONTHS
Competent person
EN 365 2004 for periodic examination Person who is knowledgeable of the current periodic examination requirements, recommendations and instructions issued by the manufactures applicable to the relevant component, subsystem or system
Note 2
A competent person may need to be trained by a manufacture or his authorised representative on specific PPE or other equipment eg, due to its complexity or innovation ,or where safety critical knowledge is needed in the dismantling, reassembly or assessment of PPE or other equipment ,and may need to have that training updated due to modification and upgrades
Frequency and types of inspection
Equipment should be subject to different levels of inspection at different times through its use:
• pre-use checks;
• detailed inspections
• interim inspections (if necessary)
Keeping suitable records
Apart from any legal considerations, good record keeping is essential to establish the age and conditions of use for products. All products must therefore be marked individually to allow the history of the product to be recorded.
Products must only be marked in ways that will not cause damage or reduce their effectiveness. In particular, textile products must not be indelibly marked on load bearing areas unless it has been ascertained that the marking agent will not cause damage to the textile.