Posted By Ron Hunter This sounds like a most unwise practice to me. Tools shold be clipped or secured to a belt other than the safety harness. Should the safety harness ever have to do it's job, the pressure applied by an inappropriately placed clip or fixing could really hurt?

Posted By Ben Hughes Sorry my mistake in the first post, yes safe practices of attaching the load are followed onto suitable attachment points so there is no problems with damaged harnesses etc but like I say I will look for alternative solutions - which will take time. Im more concerned with the ergonomic issues at present

Posted By Dave Merchant If the harness has gear racking then you can legally attach whatever you want to it, up to the SWL limit in the user instructions (which can often be small, say around 5kg - so check!). Practically the weight carriable depends on the person and the ladder height. In telecoms, rigging, utilities etc. we typically limit add-on items (including the harness itself, lanyards, stuff in pockets etc as well as clipped-on tools) to around 15kg for all situations, and less (say around 10kg) for long runs of ladder. Some people will cope with more, some with less. Remember that stuff adds up quickly - 10kg may still sound a lot but try weighing a harness, lanyards, polestrap, traveller and helmet and see how little you've got left for spanners! 'Manual handling', btw, is not a useful term to wave about in your situation. Gear clipped to the body, worn like a harness or stuffed in pockets is not covered by the MHR, which only considers things physically carried in your hands.