Posted By SNS Hi Dave, The IPAF course will give you all the up to date info you need, I would consider waiting to do the course - depending on how far into the future it is - before doing too much. If the items have no history and labels are not readable your approach of changing them to baseline the system should be a good start. Rgds S

Posted By accessoperator Hi Dave, 'PUWER' would be your first point of call to support your recommendations: "You must ensure that the work equipment you provide meets the requirements of PUWER. In doing so, you should ensure that it is, suitable for use, and for the purpose and conditions in which it is used. Maintained in a safe condition for use so that people's health and safety is not at risk.Inspected in certain circumstances to ensure that it is and continues to be safe for use. Any inspection should be carried out by a competent person (this could be an employee if they have the necessary competence to perform the task) and a record kept until the next inspection." Then go to BS 8437 2005: "Formal inspection procedures should be put in place by employers to ensure that personal fall protection equipment is given a detailed inspection (“thorough examination”) by a competent person before first use and at intervals not exceeding six months (or three months where the equipment is used in arduous conditions), and after circumstances liable to jeopardize safety have occurred" In other words if your company have no inspection records in place at present, the equipment i.e harnesses/lanyards should not be used and tagged to prevent use. You cannot afford to wait until you have done your training course to inspect them your self as the equipment may already be in a defective condition. A cheaper option to replacing them all out right (at this stage)would be to have them externally checked for safe use.There are a lot of reputable companies out there that can do this for you. Kind Regards AL Howes

Posted By Dave Merchant The previous post is incorrect. The *only* time an item of PFPE (harness etc.) is covered by LOLER is when it is being used to intentionally suspend a person - for example in rope access, theatrical flying, etc. Where you happen to be standing while you're wearing it, or what it's clipped to, is totally besides the point. As to the OP question:- 1 - there is no requirement to document the date of first use, unless you are trying to exploit a shelf life provided by the manufacturer. You do however need to know the date of manufacture (which will be on the label). 2 - there is no requirement for any declaration of conformity to be kept, or for anyone to ever provide you with one. You have a CE marking. That *IS* the proof of conformity. 3 - provided you can somehow trace each harness to a record of inspection (for example by writing on your own serial number) then the original serial numbers are totally irrelevant. Legally, your users only need to be able to see the CE mark and the safety notices (things like the EN standard, which way the buckles thread, etc.) 4 - there is no legal schedule for inspections of fall restraint equipment. None. There is *GUIDANCE* via EN365 that it should happen "at least annually" but it's entirely up to you and your risk assessments as to when you bother. PUWER.9 simply says to inspect it "at suitable intervals".

Posted By patrick carr Dave Thank you for that response, up till then i was going to post,if you have no current data or background regarding the afore mentioned safety harness's and the labels attached were unreadable, IMO i would have liked to see them withdrawn from service. We now have a site based register, solely for a weekly check on safety harnesses. On issue of a safety harness to a individual, the individual undergoes a course on the manufacturers guidelines for that piece of equipment,WAHR 2005,SG4:05 and inducted into the company policy regarding rescue plan and SSOW for work at height. In addition of the wearer carrying out their daily checks, we have a designated competent person to re-inspect on a weekly basis and verify that specific equipment as fit for task before completing the register. Regards Paddy PS. must add this is for Scaffolders only, no other personnel been trained as yet, that is why SG4:05 was mentioned,apologise for any confusion.

Posted By David AB Thomas Refer to BS 8437, INDG367 and EN365.