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:: Saturday, October 04, 2003 ::

eLCOSH : Will Your Safety Harness Kill You? By Bill Weems and Phil Bishop
Occuaptional Health & Safety magazine

Harness-Induced Death
Wide ranges of situations require safety harnesses of various types. Workers requiring fall protection, workers entering many confined spaces, mountain climbers, deer hunters in elevated stands, and cave explorers all try to protect themselves through the use of safety harnesses, belts, and seats. What is little known however, is that these harnesses can also kill. Harnesses can become deadly whenever a worker is suspended for duration over five minutes in an upright posture, with the legs relaxed straight beneath the body. This can occur in many different situations in industry. A carpenter working alone is caught in mid-fall by his safety harness, only to die 15 minutes later from suspension trauma. An electrical worker is lowered into a shaft after testing for toxic gases. He is lowered on a cable and is positioned at the right level to repair a junction box. After five minutes he is unconscious--but his buddies tending the line don’t realize it, and 15 minutes later a dead body is hauled out. The cause of this problem is called “suspension trauma.” Fall protection researchers have recognized this phenomenon for decades. Despite this, data have not been collected on the extent of the problem; most users of fall protection equipment, rescue personnel, and safety and health professionals remain unaware of the hazard.

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