WAHA constantly strives to develop and set high standards of safety and currently has a proposal with Standards Australia to fund the development of a new Australian Standard on single point anchors.
WAHA recommends that where personal fall protection equipment is required, there are three key elements employed:
- Full body fall arrest rated harness.
- A fall arrest rated anchor system.
- A connector to join the full body harness to the anchor system (usually a shock absorbing lanyard).
Over the last 10 years, Australia has developed what is recognised as the world's most comprehensive suite of standards covering personal fall protection equipment known as the AN/NZS1891 suite of standards.
The first of 3 parts of the standard covers harnesses and ancillary equipment (lanyards, pole straps, etc.); the second (which is in two sections) covers horizontal lifeline and rail systems while the third is directed at fall arrest devices (rope grabs etc.) Part 4 is directed at the users of the equipment and focuses on the selection, use and maintenance of equipment.
However, this suite of standards – while covering movable horizontal and vertical
lifeline and rail systems – fails to cover the widely used single point anchor – one of the critical items in a wide variety of personal fall arrest systems. This gap in the standards leaves a huge potential risk for those working at height.
Over the last 15 months, the Technical Committee of the Fall Protection Manufactures Association - now WAHA - has worked to develop a draft standard for single point anchors.
The Association currently has a proposal with Standards Australia to fund the finalisation of this Standard. The Standards Australia committee and public comment processes has a timeline of some 25 weeks and, if running to plan, the Standard should be published 35 weeks after commencement. As our tag line states, WAHA is constantly 'reaching new levels of safety' and all of the WAHA team are excited to get this standard implemented as soon as possible.