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Posted By Francis E S Hone
having read the booklet that comes with the equipment i believe that the lifespan is from the day of manufacture. estimated lifespan 5 years (dependant on correct storage and use etc)However i am told by the product suppliers during the training that they supplied FOC as we purchased their equipment that the 5 years starts when we open the package and start to use the equipment. Thanks in advance for your views
Regards to all
Frank
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Posted By DPK
Francis
I have been told exactly the same by the contractor which supplies and tests our equipment.
Another piece of advice they gave us was, if fall arrest/restraint equipment is rarely used and not subjected to sunlight then the life span can be expanded 2 more years to 7 in total, obviously depending on the condition of the equipment.
When i spoke with the HSE regarding this advise they informed me that, as long as suitable checks are being made on the equipment by competent persons and the equipment remains in good working order then they can see no reason to replace it with new
(not verbatim).
Regards
DPK
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Posted By Dave Merchant
A supplier, trainer or workplace user cannot overrule what a manufacturer says in their EN363 usage instruction sheet.
Legally it's far from simple what you're supposed to do with time-expired PPE, as on face value the legislation doesn't seem to even mention that product lifetimes exist, never mind that you should follow them. Took several pages of my book to get this across, so what follows is a bit over-concise:-
The PPE at Work Regs say:-
7(1) Every employer shall ensure that any personal protective equipment provided to
his employees is maintained (including replaced or cleaned as appropriate) in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.
Also,
10(2) Every employee shall use any personal protective equipment provided to him by
virtue of these Regulations in accordance both with any training in the use of the personal
protective equipment concerned which has been received by him and the instructions respecting that use which have been provided to him by virtue of regulation 9.
The manufacturer will claim that a product older than it's approved lifetime is in breach of 7(1), and that not following their instruction sheet to the letter is in breach of 10(2), and to prove otherwise you'd have to subject the item to a repeat of the original EN tests, and that would of course destroy it in the process. Catch-22.
Remember - the cost of your time to argue the point is probably more than the cost of a new item.
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Posted By Nigel
Different manufacturer's give different recommendations - you need to check with the particular manufacturer (not on-supplier) to establish their recommendation. Ultimately however it is only a recommendation and the final decision on service life lies with you. It is possible, with appropriate precautions (e.g. destruction testing of a sample of kit), to go beyond the manufacturer's recommendations.Having said this the risk of potential deterioration of webbing, etc over time seems to be a generally accepted fact - there's an HSE document covering it - ten years from date of manufacture seems to be the ultimate back stop. A good starting point, that seems to capture most supplier's recommendations, is 5 years in service or 7 years from date of manufacture, i.e. giving up to 2 years shelf life.
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Posted By Dave Merchant There's a summary of the official manufacturer lifetime limits for several popular brands here http://www.ahead4heights.com/library2.aspThe lifetime information always has to be shown in the product literature, as it's one of the core fields in EN365.
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