According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), construction buildings are considered one of the most dangerous workplaces. According to the 2018 Stats, 21% of workers fatalities occurred due to fall accidents in construction buildings.
However, it is not surprising that out of 1008 total deaths, around 338 deaths are related to fall-related accidents. According to the recent most violated Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, the lack of all protection is ranked for the first five years.
That is the only reason why there is increasing implementation of installing a lifeline system in construction buildings. Now the question arises what it means to have a quality lifeline system on any construction building? And does it assure complete safety for the workers in construction sites? Below, we are going to cover everything about the installation of lifelines.
What is lifeline
Workers are always at a high risk of danger in a workplace like a construction site, and many associated deaths are caused by the lack of lifelines on construction buildings. Now, the question is what exactly is a lifeline.
A lifeline is a system put in place on construction buildings to decrease the accidents related to falling. A lifeline must be installed in buildings higher than 2.5 meters to prevent and protect all the workers from the dangers of falling and take severe actions to prevent workers from falling without causing severe injuries.
Role of protection Lifeline system in a workplace
The primary role of a lifeline system is to provide a building with a layer of safety. So there will be no risk of falling and getting injured. If you want to understand the role of a lifeline system better, take a close look at the four categories shown below.
Falling elimination
A lifeline system primarily worked as the fall elimination that generally means avoiding any tasks needed to be done at the height of more than 2.5 meters.
Fall prevention
As every construction project requires workers to work at height, fall prevention equipment such as safety harnesses and self-retracting lines are needed.
These are among the most common types of falling prevention equipment that must be seen in many construction sites. On the other side, there are some guardrails and barricades installed on the construction building to prevent the possibility of falling accidents.
Fall Arrest
Fall Arrest is considered as the last line of protection installed in the building where workers are completing tasks at heights. Dead anchor weights, rope lifelines and safety nets are one of the equipments used in the fall arrest system.
Administrative controls
Administrative controls revolve around the administrative measures to inform workers about avoiding hazard areas. For example, installation of warning lines, written safety and precautionary warnings.
What are the components of a lifeline?
The most common devices used to form a lifeline systems are an anchor point and the anchor line. The lifeline is a rigid fall arrest system responsible for ensuring the safety of all workers using the connection cables, harnesses, carabiners and different types of bolts, anchor lines and anchor points.
Wrapping up
Now, if you are running a business where workers have to complete tasks at a certain height, you must look for installing a lifeline system for the safety of your workers. However, many companies are manufacturing and installing lifelines. But you have to find the genuine one. And Luxtop is one of the best companies manufacturing and installing fall protection products. The best thing is that they rely on all current safety standards such as UNE 795:2012, UNE EN 795/A1: 2001 or UNE EN 353.1-2.
