Standards Development

Scope

This document specifies the essential requirements of employer for the selection, use, maintenance of personal fall protection equipment for protection against falls and for post-fall rescue, to establish a fall protection program.

This document is not applicable to professional rescuers or other similar groups which are not part of an employer’s organization.

Purpose

Workplace falls is still a major cause for workplace injuries and fatalities globally. According to IPAF global safety report, falls from the platform is the number one cause of fatal incidents globally in powered access equipment operations (close to 30 percent). According to data of construction industry from U.S.A, falls to a lower level accounted for 57% of total construction fatalities in 2019. According to data from China, falls from height accounted for 59.07% of total fatalities in housing and municipal engineering projects in 2020. To prevent workplace personal fall injuries and fatalities, multiple types of personal fall protection equipment are used, e.g. harnesses, lanyards, energy absorbers, lifelines, sliding-type fall arresters, anchor devices, descending devices, etc. ISO/TC 94 has published product standards for the above-mentioned product types. However, effective abatement of fall hazards requires both competent products and more essentially, effective selection, proper use and good maintenance. Currently, there is no ISO standards on the selection, use and maintenance of personal fall protection equipment, while in ISO PPE standard system on other categories of PPE, e.g. respiratory protective devices, protective clothing, typically include document(s)for selection, use and maintenance of such product category. The drafting of this ISO document will facilitate in establishing a more complete ISO personal fall protection standard system. For countries and regions with no selection, use and maintenance standard on personal fall protection equipment, this ISO document can be adopted or referenced, facilitating proper utilization of personal fall protection equipment, providing better workplace personal fall protection. Currently, Regional or National standards on selection, usage and guidance of personal fall protection equipment exist, such as ANSI/ASSP Z359.2-2023 Minimum Requirements For A Comprehensive Managed Fall Protection Program, CSA Z259.17:21 Selection and use of active fall-protection equipment and systems, GB/T 23468-2009 Code of practice for safety use of fall protection equipment, AS/NZS 1891.4:2009 w/Amd 1:2021, Industrial fall-arrest systems and devices, Part 4: Selection, use and maintenance, EN 365:2004 w/AC:2006 Personal protective equipment against falls from a height - General requirements for instructions for use, maintenance, periodic examination, repair, marking and packaging. Those national or regional standards can support the drafting of this ISO document. A draft is provided with the proposal. Considering differences among management in personal fall protection equipment of member countries, this draft is only a preliminary document to begin work with. Changes in structure, requirements are expected to take place during future works