Rank: Forum user 
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Does anyone have any experience with approximately how much force it takes to withdraw the bungee from a fall arrest lanyard and do they reckon its possible to withdraw it from a sideways fall off a walkway? 70cm wide walkway, unguarded at one side, anchor point about waist height, 1m long lanyard with bungee section, 50m drop.
I know fall restraint shouldn't be used as fall arrest cause that's where I'm kind of heading with this.
even used the spell checker on the word waist, what a word lol.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Rocky
I think you have answered your own question in a way - what it appears you are asking is would a fall arrest lanyard restrain you from going over the side or would it deploy as you fall. Surly what you need is a fixed length lanyard of the correct length to restrain the fall - right equipment for right job.
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Rank: Forum user
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Hi Brian,
yes, you're right, right equipment for the job, I had that in mind though just trying to see if I can cut down on choice of lanyard for the users as we do have various types of task when the fall arrest is used and I dont want them choosing the wrong lanyard when its a restraint not fall arrest type or vice versa. Just I think theyll automatically pick up the lanyard they've always used when a choice is introduced.
I guess each job card needs marked and storeman brought on board with what to issue. Thanks for your help, was a bit of a silly question now as I knew the right tool for the job is the right way to go, just hoping to cover both bases.
RB
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Rank: Super forum user
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Think you need to address this to the manufacturer of your equipment.
As suggested can you not use a restraint lanyard therby avoiding the risk of falling in the first place?
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Rank: Forum user
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By 'bungee' I assume you are talking about the energy adsorbing section incorporated in some lanyards used as part of a fall-arrest system.
According to EN 355 which is the harmonised standard for such lanyards, the lanyard must limit the force experienced during a fall arrest to less than 6kN [~600kg force] i.e. it must deploy at a bit less than 6kN.
The same standard says that it should be able to withstand at least 2kN without deploying... so the answer to your question is some force between 2kN and 6kN.
To give you some other food for thought BS EN 13374, which is the standard for edge protection, requires handrails [where the foreseeable movement of people is parallel with the rail i.e. where the only foreseeable motion towards the rail would be from a sideways fall] to withstand a force of 0.3kN.
So you could conclude that a sideways fall on a narrow gantry would be likely to generate <1kN of force in the lanyard which should not deploy at less than 2kN. If you did choose to use it you would have to have a system of inspecting the lanyards and especially if they were used to restrain a sideways fall.
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Rank: Forum user
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Fletcher,
can you not use a restraint lanyard therby avoiding the risk of falling in the first place?
Yes, for some jobs that is fine, for the electricians, they dont need to work over the edges usually but the mech fitters, they do sometimes. I know if they read the job card theyll be told what lanyard to use but if they dont read it and they pick up the restraint lanyard when the arrest type would be better then they may be in bother. I think Im to cynical that the men wont read the job cards. Giving one choice engineers out choice which is what I always try to do but I think in this scenario its the right tool for the job and the operators will just have to be sensible and use the right one. Im creating a matrix just now that works in a heirarchy of which one to choose, got a cracking work at height heirarchy from turner access, no product placement there by the way, I dont have anything to do with them, just a good piece of info I found.
EdwardH,
Thank you for looking into the data for me, it is very kind of you to help so much and give such a detailed answer but, I think in hindsight that using the right but of equipment for the job is how I ned to approach the scenario, think it was very optimistic of me to think I could get both from one piece of kit, kinda thought that once I posted it but wanted to ask.
RB
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