Understanding Full Body Harnesses: Your Life Depends On It
Full body harnesses have a variety of purposes. They can be used by rappellers for work, for industrial climbing and construction work, rigging on stage, filming and photography, towing aerial devices such as balloons or hot air balloons and other specialty uses.
Full body harnesses are attached to ropes in order to provide protection from falls when working with heights. They also allow a person to be pulled back up the rope when at height where a fall could lead to injury or death. The function of a full body harness is two-fold: it needs both an adequate strength rating and appropriate features in order to offer maximum safety while working at height.
Full body harnesses fall into two categories: 1) working at height safety harnesses and 2) production/communication harnesses.
1) Working at Height Safety Harnesses
In the industry, full body harnesses are referred to as Working at Height (W.A.H.) safety harnesses. These are used for working at heights above 15 meters, usually with a designated fall zone of 10 meters or less. This means that the maximum expected freefall speed is no more than 10 meters per second (33 mph). This is to ensure that a person who falls will be able to arrest their fall by placing themselves in a safe position before impact with the ground.
The harness is designed to be very strong and durable since it is expected to be used for long periods of time. The durability of the webbing, the stitching and the buckles needs to be such that they will not fail in use after prolonged use and from exposure to UV radiation.
While this type of harness is mainly applied in industrial work, it has also been used by adventurous photographers and sport climbers. In sport climbing, most people do not recommend using this harness because if you fall while wearing a full body harness you will generally take an enormous amount of slack with you that could potentially cause injury or death.
Many people are now using full body harnesses in the home for climbing and working at height. The main advantage of this type of harness is that it allows you to climb more safely at home. It provides a safer workplace environment for the people that live in your house or around your property. You can get a safe and secure feeling when climbing with this type of harness as opposed to wearing traditional climbing gear such as slings and cams.
This type of harness also allows you to work at height without the need for scaffolding or a ladder.
This is an ideal choice of harness for those who climb and do other activities in the home such as working on the roof, hanging Christmas lights, painting and cleaning gutters. In many cases, this type of harness can be more secure than a traditional climbing harness because it does not depend on how tightly you tie your knots. It is very important to always follow the manufacturer's instructions with regard to weight limits and proper use.
2) Production/Communication Harnesses
In the industry, full body harnesses are referred to as Production/Communication Harnesses. These are used for works that require a person to be pulled up from a height and landed directly on the ground without an impact. The object is to keep the person in a stable position at all times while they are working at heights that exceed the 10 meter fall zone.
Most of these harnesses are designed to carry loads (such as cameras, tools and other kit) or carry various bundles of their tools or equipment when they are harvesting. They also have other uses such as being used on aerial devices that need to be hauled up to altitude such as hot air balloons or high lift aircraft.
These harnesses fall into three categories:
1) Rigging Harnesses
Rigging harnesses are used specifically to be attached to ropes for work. They are typically rated at a minimum of 3,000 pounds and will carry a person up to heights of 20 meters (65 ft) when attached to a rope that is 100 meters long. They may be rated as 4X or 5X and must carry the safety factor which is the load divided by the rope's breaking strain. These harnesses are usually rigged with blocks that anchor the harness to a piece of equipment such as a winch, winches etc.. These harnesses are connected to the ground by a tensioned wire rope that is anchored firmly to the ground, and are almost like an elongated "V" shape.
These harnesses are a popular form of full body harness used today in industrial applications. They allow workers to safely travel long distances at height and move loads easily up and down long distances with minimal effort. There are many types of rigging harnesses, but they all fall into this category. The common element among them is that they must be attached to some form of moving equipment, usually a winch or some other variation. One can also use manual labour or even powered equipment such as dropping devices (e.g. a chute) to easily move the load from point A to point B. By making use of a rigging harness, one is able to use their maximum strength to pull up their equipment or loads over uneven terrain, and therefore gain an advantage over other workers who are limited in their movement ability by having a fixed work site.
2) Specialty Harnesses
Specialty harnesses are some of the most popular types of rescue harness. There are many applications for these harnesses and they fall into two main categories: static and dynamic. The first category includes many types of rescue equipment used in oil fields and construction sites. The second category includes many types of rescue harness used in the aviation industry.
1) Rescue Harness Categories
There are several categories of rescue harnesses used by the military and police in the event of a crash. They fall into two main categories: static and dynamic. The first category includes many types of rescue equipment used in oil fields and construction sites. These are special versions of rigging harnesses that have been modified for purposes other than working at height such as facilitating access to damaged objects or crush zones under an object that is being moved.
In the second category, dynamic rescue harnesses are designed to be used during aircraft crashes. These harnesses are designed to keep the person in a stable position and can include large amounts of force absorption within the webbing.
The purpose of this type of harness is to keep a person in a stable position when they fall or are dropped from great heights. Usually, these harnesses will have some sort of webbing that is connected to the ground and then works into some form of anchoring system that helps to anchor the person while they are moving at speed. Some manufacturers will use webbing with special buckles and stitching designed to reduce the amount of lift created by being moved along with them. This helps ensure that one does not lose their center of gravity when being moved so as to prevent injury or damage.
Conclusion
There are a multitude of harnesses available, and custom harnesses are often made for specific work purposes. It is possible to even construct a static rope climbing harness if one has the knowledge and time. Custom climbing harnesses allow for maximum comfort, safety and mobility by restricting movement, accommodating different body sizes, fitting individual needs and using material appropriate to the job at hand.
The Story of Harness Development
Invented in 1935 by Christian Hempelmann. The original 'HEM' (Hochgebirgs-EM Raum) rack was used exclusively in alpine climbing by Hans Kammerlander in the Italian Dolomites.