Posted By john o'donnell Hi I work offshore and have an issue with several scaffolders wearing a harness that they were not issued with when they first arrived on platform. All harnesses have number tags on them to stop them getting mixed and they sign for that piece of kit before use. I was wondering what the legal implications of this would be if they had an accident whilst working at height and the harness they were waearing did not tie-in with the harness register. Would this affect any compensation claims etc If anyone could shed some light on this subject i would graetly appreciate it. Thank You

Posted By Garry Adams John Are the Scaffs interchanging the harnesses with other members of the squad ?. Were the Scaffs issued with a designated harness for the duration of the trip ? Gary...

Posted By Garry Adams John I must say that I have never had any probs with this issue in the resent past, however, in the early days Fall arrest equipment was treated with contempt and awarded little to no respect ... I for one thought that it was merely a badge to be worn and lead to a false sense of security when surfin the steel. However, my attitude has changed of the years and now recognise that F.A.E. is a necessary addendum to the Scaffs Tool Kit. Anyway, back to the issue at hand, May I suggest that Prior to the issue of the permit to work at the start of every shift, a include Harness fit for purpose inspection in the Tool Box Talk...cheque every individual harness for the fit to each Scaff...the Bears will soon get Pd off with adjusting the webbing for a snug fit every start of shift. Do the Bears return the harnesses to the PPE store at end of every shift ?. If that fails...tell them straight...if they cannot take direction ...run them off...there is non room for amateurs offshore. Garry...

Posted By Chris Duffy Good day Mr. JOD. Not seen your name on the forum yet. I shall email you myself. GM (ex off-shore scaff)

Posted By Garry Adams John aye John,I think that all of us Scaffs has the rebel in him...that 's what makes us thrill seekers lol. Ye absorption of information, I put my hands up to that one, was a free radical in my time too, still am fight wi mi shada sometimes. Addendum Talkin about fightin do you Know John (Cowboy) Mc Cormack ...and or the Mc Millam Brothers, Fredy, John, Dony....? John, I posted a new thread on the Stepchange wed site Discussion Forum this morning title is..Scaffolders: Stepghange Safety Culture, From Onshore to Offshore...its under Risk Awareness...If you got time could you have a wee Butchers, I would value your views/comments. Fraernal regards, Garry...

Posted By Dave Merchant To answer the original post - the "legal implications" are *almost* zero. PPEAW Regs make no demands for items to be person-specific issue unless there is a functional reason such as hygiene (you shouldn't have to share fireproof underwear). A harness is adjustable, and there are no hygiene issues, therefore PPEAW cares not one jot if you share them, as long as the user puts them on correctly. All of the responses about fitting or using your own preferred design are irrelevant - there can only ever be legal, inspected items available for use on the platform or you're in far more trouble than just compensation, and it's the user's job to adjust them to fit. It takes less than a minute. By the sound of it, these workers are using them solely for fall arrest, in which case comfort is trivial - they aren't suspended in them, so the luxury of preferring a particular shape of padded belt is not your concern. If they fit, they're OK to use. The sole possible issue would arise if some of your workers are over the 100kg legal limit for EN361, and have been issued specialist heavy-user harnesses (yes, you have to issue them, and yes, people hardly ever know). If one of these people picks up a 100kg-rated harness by mistake then they're in trouble (but whoever gets theirs is still safe).

Posted By patrick carr Yeah Garry comfort is top of my tree of concerns, a comfortable bear is a happy bear.However with all due respect to JOD the original poster, can i slightly go off on a tangent? Scaffold tool belts, under or over Harness? Apologies John for hijacking your post. Best regards Paddy

Posted By GFM Good one Paddy, With regards to tool belts, over or under. What we must look at is the actual harness its self. If we look closely at these we find that they are tested under very strict procedures. Manufacturers and in compliance with HSWA give instructions how to use them. No manufacturer is ever going to state that you can use the harness with a tool belt or have anything else for that matter that may hamper the performance of it, I wouldn't anyway. If I was a manufacturer I would be looking at the commercial side of things and look to add new products that can be used in conjunction with the harness product. (believe it or not, that's why they are in the business)Some Manufacturers do supply such things. This is a very good point and just goes to show how backward Scaffolding Works Safety really is. On the comfort side of things, I remember when Hi-vis vest where deemed uncomfortable to wear and some one come up with the great idea of Hi-Vis Tee Shirts. Maybe food for thought to adapt an overall with a safety mechanism built in. (I'm sure the Off-shore Boy's could think of something with in the restraints of the Oil/ Service Companies) Oh, and the best of it is that Scaffs always get the blame for being an unsafe trade and get blamed for a lot of things that happen on site when, yes (all you Site Managers), their are Highly Trained Scaffolders out there. Lets start "Justice for Scaffs" give the Guy's who risk their lives every day a break. (Sorry off on one back to the Original thread). When I was working as Safety Advisor for one of the largest Scaffolding Companies in London, I devised a register with colour codes as I found it near impossible to keep tabs on every one, similar to some Platforms I have been on to which they manage their LOLLER equipment. I have the register/ Database and the name of the Suppliers that issued the rubber tags if you want it. It was a good system that worked because everyone was vigilant for an out of date (inspected) harness.