KANBrief 3/09

Fall arresters for protection against falls from a height: goal of the “European Single Market“ not yet reached

Guided-type fall arresters with a rigid anchor line are employed for protection of persons against falls from a height, for example on ladders. Normally, it should be possible for them to be manufactured and placed on the market in Europe in accordance with EN 353-1. This standard, however, does not adequately address the foreseeable use. This has repeatedly resulted in serious accidents, and led the British authorities to submit a formal objection.

The provisions of EN 353-1, “Personal protective equipment against falls from a height - Part 1: Guided-type fall arresters including a rigid anchor line“, currently cover only normal ascent and descent along a correctly installed anchor line. Use in constrained working environments for example is not considered. In addition, in the event of a fall, the initial vertical fall of the user must not be influenced by any particular circumstances, and the system may not for example be used in order to secure the worker‘s position during work at a height. The standard therefore only covers the case in which the system is used strictly as stated by the manufacturer. It may otherwise not be fully functional, and may endanger the user‘s safety.

What uses may be considered foreseeable?

Sections 1.1.1 and 3.1.2.2 of Annex II of the EU Personal Protective Equipment Directive (89/686/EEC) explicitly oblige the manufacturer to consider not only the intended use of personal protective equipment, but also its foreseeable use. Manufacturers must therefore assure safety when the PPE is used not only under precisely the conditions defi ned by them, but also in a different but foreseeable manner.

Serious accidents which have occurred in the past owing to the incorrect use of arrester devices show that an urgent need for action exists. Experts are in agreement for example that EN 353-1:2002 must be supplemented by additional design requirements in order for greater consideration to be given to the foreseeable use.

The German position is that the following aspects in particular are not currently addressed adequately by EN 353-1:2002:

  • Possible forces acting horizontally upon the device
  • A fall by the user to the side
  • An increased distance between the anchor line and the user‘s centre of gravity, for example owing to poor adjustment of the harness
  • Manual guidance of the guided-type fall arrester
  • Test requirements governing the end stop for cases in which the anchor line does not reach to the ground

No consensus exists at European level, however, on what specifi c methods should be used to test these aspects.

The European Single Market is still not a reality

Contrary to the requirements for the Single Market formulated in the New Approach, type tests for guided-type fall arresters with fixed anchor line are not performed uniformly. Some notified bodies may base their tests solely on the provisions of EN 353-1:2002, whereas others perform various additional tests owing to differences between the national approaches.

Following a formal objection by the British authorities against this harmonized standard, the European Commission is now expected to withdraw the reference to the standard completely from the Official Journal of the EU in the near future following a hearing of the Member States in the PPE working group. Application of the standard would then no longer give rise to the presumption of conformity, not even for the requirements of the directive which are in fact properly supported. The German view is that it would have been preferable not to have withdrawn the reference completely, but to have added a suitable warning.

Manufacturers and testers of fall arresters must now find mutually acceptable solutions to these problems, which have been known for some time. The onus lies upon the European Commission to formulate the deficiencies described above in a standardization mandate and to urge for a consensus to be reached swiftly. On this basis, CEN/TC 160, “Protection against falls from height including working belts“, should complete work on EN 353-1 as swiftly as possible.

Corado Mattiuzzo
mattiuzzo@kan.de