workplace safety
30
MICA MESSENGER
W 
hen it comes to personal 
protective equipment 
(PPE), most pieces of 
equipment are designed 
to protect a worker right 
out of the packaging. When a worker 
faces potential hand injuries, simply 
providing them with appropriate safety 
gloves immediately reduces the risk fac-
tor for an employee without changing 
how they perform their task. Similarly, if 
a worker faces eye injuries from a task 
like grinding or cutting, simply donning 
safety glasses can protect the worker’s 
eyes from debris or other hazardous 
material. Gloves and glasses are not 
necessarily technical pieces of safety 
equipment; therefore, most workers will 
naturally don them correctly or with 
minimal training. But when it comes to 
fall protection equipment, it’s common 
for workers to improperly don the 
equipment, which can potentially allow 
them to work while still being exposed 
to the risk of injury or worse.
The importance of proper harness fit 
The Occupational Safety & Health 
Administration (OSHA) mandates that 
manufacturer’s instructions be followed 
for safety equipment. If workers do not 
fit their PPE according to its design, they 
prevent the equipment from doing its 
job. Besides the risk of violating OSHA 
requirements that can lead to citations 
and potential injury, this practice leads 
to the worker being less protected by 
their equipment.
Fall protection harnesses are designed 
to fit tight and ensure the body remains 
as stationary as possible during a fall 
incident. This allows the harness to 
absorb as much force of the fall as pos-
sible. A loose-fitting harness allows the 
body to move around too much, and the 
user will feel more force during a fall, 
furthering the risk of injury. One must 
remember that during a fall, the victim 
is simultaneously being pulled down 
by the forces of gravity and up by the 
equipment trying to successfully arrest 
their fall. A properly fitting harness is 
the lynchpin between ultimate safety 
being achieved and additional acciden-
tal injury occurring. A properly fitting 
FIT FOR PROTECTION: 
PROPERLY FITTING FALL 
PROTECTION HARNESSES 
PROTECT WORKERS
Philip Jacklin
Diversified Fall Protection

View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.