When Body Belts are Acceptable

May 9, 2014

When fall protection equipment first became part of OSHA’s legislation, there weren’t a lot of specific rules that had been created. At the time that the laws were first initiated, there was very little information available about fall protection equipment. As a result, there was not a thorough understanding about how the equipment would impact the users.

The fall protection law that was initiated in 1970 simply required that workers use basic safety belts, lanyards, and safety nets for fall protection. Beyond those requirements, any other fall protection law details were somewhat vague and non-descriptive. Due to the lack of details, OSHA officials decided to re-phrase and expand upon the fall protection laws in 1977. Those laws then remained untouched and unrevised until 1989.

The fall protection laws that we refer to today became available to the public in 1989. And, for the most part, fall protection laws went unchanged until 1998. At that point, OSHA legislators decided that the fall protection laws for the construction industry (OSHA 1926) needed to adapt their laws for what equipment was acceptable for use in different scenarios. The law change in 1998 did not apply to the general industry requirements, only the construction industry.

As of May 2014, body belt usage is still technically acceptable for fall protection in general industry applications under written OSHA law. PLEASE NOTE: Body belts are NOT recommended for fall arrest applications by fall protection professionals.

In the construction industry, body belts are only acceptable for work positioning. Based upon how body belts can injure a person’s spine or slide up and compress your lungs during fall arrest, they are only suited for workplace positioning. Never use body belts to arrest a fall.

Remember, if a full body harness is equipped with a pair of side D-Rings, that style of full body harness can also be used for workplace positioning purposes. Generally speaking, full body harnesses are the better option when it comes to any form of positioning or fall protection/fall arrest applications.

Until the next time, stay safe up there!

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