Posted By Jerry Lucey
My understanding is that double lanyards are necessary where a person cannot move away from a point of danger before untying/ unclipping their fall arrest.

A good example of this is when scaffolders are erecting/ dismantling scaffolding where they need to move and in order to do so they need to unclip from a particular part of the scaffolding. In order to do so they will need to be clipped on elsewhere using another lanyard.

Roofers working on a roof may be able to move away from the point of danger i.e. to more than 2m from the roof edge before clipping off and therfore in such situations only one lanyard is needed.

I would have thought that in the majority of situations, scaffolders would require double lanyards when working in excess of 2m from ground level.

Hope this clarifies the situation a little.

Posted By gham
What difference does it make it does the same job, it may just cost slightly less than buying two lanyards.

get a second opinion from another training company Try http://www.narc.co.uk/

Posted By Liam Mc Conalogue
Guys,

Anyone in Northern Ireland able to point me in the direction of a scaffolding company that will actually use lanyards, because I feel like I am talking a foreign language when I put this to them as a safe system of work.

email: liammcconalogue@fastmail.fm to avoid any advertising

Posted By Frank Hallett
Both types have value in specific circumstances and must be carefully selected and used only for those work circumstances.

Frank Hallett

Posted By john houlihan
Hello Garyh,
Double lanyards will be used in circumstances where a scaffolder cannot afford to be unclipped at any point,for instance, when erecting a temporary roof. Scaffolders may have to straddle the beams and crab their way along a beam to fix purlins, whilst carrying out this type of work they would be sitting on two inches of steel, no collective protection but minimising the risk of hitting the deck. This type of work can be eliminated by good planning from the offset. Suspension trauma is no good to anyone.

Posted By john houlihan
TWIN TAILED LANYARD.... A twin tailed energy absorbing lanyard should ideally be used with a common energy absorber, because two separate lanyards and energy absorbers may be less effective and increase the loads transferred into the body. When using only one of the double lanyards that shares a common energy absorber. Scaffolders should not wrap the spare lanyard around their body or attach it back to the harness or tool belt, as this could cause the energy absorbing lanyard to fail. The spare lanyard when not in use, should either be clipped onto the same anchor point, hang free or be clipped to a purpose sacrificial lanyard parking point on the harness

Posted By Derek Holt
John is absolutely correct, a near copy of my earlier posting. gary yes there is apparent confusion but the common terminology as used by manufactureres and users is basically:

Double lanyard: Two lanyards into a single energy absorber(forming a Y).
Twin lanyards: Two seperate single lanyards each with its own energy absrober

Posted By JayJay
Hiya gary

Can you please if possible e-mail me the info on SG4:005 ? My address is johnjo44@btinternet.com

Many Thanks

Posted By Keith Jones
If the quote above from SG04:05 is accurate (I don't have one to hand), then SG4:05 is mistaken and uses the terms "twin" and "double" loosely and incorrectly. Guidance in BS 8437 and the WAHSA guidance note is clear.

When using lanyards with two arms, they should be connected to the user via one energy absorber ONLY (e.g TWIN). If connected via 2 energy absorbers (e.g. DOUBLE), the impact force in the event of a fall could exceed the permitted 6KN if both lanyards are connected to an anchor point.

As pointed out above by DABT, special care must be taken when using TWIN tailed lanyards to avoid the "spare" arm being incorrectly clipped back to the harness of the user - which can (and has in the past) cause(d) the energy absorbing element to be by-passed, resulting in product failure.

Keith Jones