safety harness for scaffold

[ratface]

hello all

I am painting my cedar farm house alone in a somewhat rural secluded area. I turn 60 this year. Last time I painted it I never even considered it but I am not as limber and strong as I used to be. I will at times be up on three levels of scaffolding. Did some searches on Amazon and there are many different types of harnesses available. I want something somewhat comfortable and easily adjustable. I am a stout fellow at 5'6" at 190 lbs.

Would I be better off with a full body harness or just a waist type rock climbers rig?
Do I want to attach to the scaffold from the front or the rear?
Are front "D" hooks a big deal, left or right side?

It seems you attach yourself to the scaffold using a lanyard but I;m not sure where to anchor the lanyard on scaffold tubing? Is the anchor a separate part of the system?

Any roofers, climbers, tree trimmers have some practical experience with harnesses? recommendations?

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I bought a safety harness. D ring on the back. If I were to get in trouble, it would take a second person to get me down.

The trick is what are you going to tie it off to??

I used mine when helping friend with horses screw down his metal roof on Barn. The roof was so steep, I would slide off. I had to devise a way to get a safety rope over the barn, tie to to trees on each side of barn, get my butt on the roof and connect the safety rope.

I feel the safety harness is necessary on a steep metal roof.

I'll take my chances on a scaffolding less than 10 ft off the ground.

 

[Destroked 450]

One of my brothers did a lot of building restoration in the city working off of scaffolds.
He used to joke about some of the OSHA rules they had to follow.
One was if you were on a scaffold over 4 ft above the ground you where required to wear a harness with a 6 ft lanyard.

 

[Charles in Aus.]

I've used both climbing and safety harnesses and must say that I found the climbing versions much more versatile and easy to use . For me this equates to safer as well . if it doesn't impede your work , is easy to deploy and gives you support and confidence it is more likely to aid instead of hinder the job .

The waist and hip type Abseiling harness used with a climbing rope with stretch and a ' figure eight ' Abseiling hook works for me . You an adjust your position easily from the front , it is comfortable enough to wear all day and allows you to grab and hold the rope if you want to steady yourself , attachment is by a simple knot at a stable part of the scaffold or roof , a single scaffold tower may topple so select the anchor point carefully .

I also have a dedicated roof worker's harness with a fall arrestor , this is a device that is supposed to break your fall and minimise the shock [ in the climbing set up it is the rope that does this] . The harness attachment points are in the middle of your back and hard to get to , the length of rope is a pest to adjust and the whole thing is heavy and chafes .
I suspect it might be safer at the end of a long fall but its difficulty of use and cumbersomeness would probably contribute to an accident .

 

[old]

Yep a lot of the rules and reg. of OSHA make about as much sense as in no sense. There thought up by people that have no clue to what and where etc. But then what do you expect out of a bunch of government idiots and lawyers. You do know the old saying don't you??
There is the right way the wrong way and the governments/military way and which comes last well of course it is the governments

 

[Jason the Red]

You will want a full harness with either a retractable or lanyard. Waist belts are not used much any more in construction, in fact they are only legal by OSHA standards in certain situations. Personally I would not wear a waist belt, as they tend to cause more damage to your body if you do fall. Secondly, it is not advised to tie off to the scaffold. Once again, by OSHA standards, this is only legal in a few situations. If you were to fall, the scaffold could come crashing down on you. I would advise tying off to the structure, just remember whatever you tie off to should be able to support a 5000lbs load. Also remember to tie off to a point as high as possible, to shorten the fall distance.

 

[Jim.ME]

Retractables are good tools used right. SRL's (Self Retracting Lanyards) will be the norm soon in the construction industry. Used properly they can stop your fall in 2-3 feet. There is more emphasis being put on the part of the OSHA standard that says you can use a 6 foot lanyard if you have about 14 to 18 feet clear for a fall zone below you. If not, you are supposed to use a shorter lanyard or other device, to keep from hitting anything when you fall. I have worked on some sites in recent years where no "regular" shock absorbing lanyards were allowed. 6 to 8 foot harness mounted SRLs were required; more places are going this way every year.

 

[Mule Meat]

Not here to reccomend one, for you will be tied in knots before long..

Just wanted to let people know that must use fall protection. The goverment just rewrote the regulations on them and the "laws" have changed concerning their use.

So what you were using six months ago may get you fined by OSHA for using it now.

 

[ratface]

In reviewing the replies I am beginning to learn some things. I am thinking a waist climbing rig will be better suited for holding paint brushes and rollers and leaving my hands free. A short lanyard seems to be in order to limit downward fall. I have no choice but to anchor to the scaffolding itself. I would think something with webbed rings would be better than steel D rings which could really hurt if I was to fall on them. I would need to attach as high and centered as possible. This is much more complicated than I imagined.

 

[old]

Just a heads up sort of thing but many states try to get deer hunter to wear a safety harness in deer stands and there have ben times where a hunter fall and yes the harness kept them from hitting the ground but they got major injuries from the harness and hanging from them for a long period of time.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

College buddy was bear hunting. Fell from stand, broke both ankles. Died 10 days later from blood clots.

 

[Jim.ME]

Recommended (required in most cases by OSHA) for working: your harness should have a ring for a lanyard high on your back. The thought is when working you are focusing on using your hands and working at an elevated position, like your scaffold. If you fall the intent is to keep one more or less upright, likely reducing back injuries. There are many variations of harnesses ; general construction work, work positioning, rescue, climbing, and further variations of these. A number of places now sell a basic harness and life line set up in a 5 gallon bucket for roof work which might be a good starting point. Add a SRL (like a Miller Mini Lite as an example) to that kit and you will have the basics to work with. Also if you have to attach to the scaffold (not recommended, but sometimes has to happen) the SRL will reduce the force the anchorage point will see; the shorter the fall the less force on you and the anchor point. You should secure your scaffold to the building as well.

Safety info will say ideally to eliminate the risk. Deck your scaffold out fully and install hand rails so you don't fall. As mentioned in another post hanging in a harness for more than a very few minutes can bring on serious circulation issues. Suspension trauma quickly leads to Deep Vein Thrombosis.

 

[johnlobb]

A waist belt only can cause major internal injuries. Wear a harness only.

 

[ratface]

one of the local hunters uses an old waist belt from an old Buick, I guess it's better than nothing.

 

[jeffcat]

Take a cruise over to U'tube. There are a ton a saftey videos. Se eral months ago at work we had to take over 20 hours of self pace on line saftey videos. Some stuff is total stupid but a lot is very good stuff. Here is just one on falls and harness.
saftey harness

 

[jeffcat]

One other thing....carry a damn sharp folding knife in your pocket to cut your way out of the harness. Just think of what the paratroopers do.

 

[old]

Reason O know about the deer stand thing is one of the guys who hunts my place is an EMT and he told me about how some times the harness can be almost as bad as the fall if one hangs in it for a long time

 

[Logan in SE Texas]

I have worked in refinery construction and operations for 30+ years. Please heed my words. A belt around your waist is a death trap! A full body harness with a D ring high on your back is what you should wear BUT ONLY IF YOU HAVE ANOTHER PERSON OR PEOPLE AVAILABLE to get you down should you fall and become suspended! Being suspended in a full body harness is only tolerable for a short time and will start to cause sever circulatory problems if not rescued quickly. It seems to me that you need to take a deep breath and re-think your plans. Full body harness's are NOT comfortable walking around on the ground, they are meant to be life saving appliances if needed. Please be careful.

 

[JoeM(GA)]

Doesn?t the scaffolding need to be secured to the house? Seems if you fell off the back side, your weight could pull the scaffolding
down on you?

 

[Roger in Wisconsin]

You might want to consider renting a man lift. It would come with a safety harness. You can position it so you're always comfortable. Safer and faster.

 

[Bill in IL]

I will second the man lift idea. If you have good level ground with no obstructions you could use a scissor type but a boom type would probably be best. You could probably rent a 40 foot boom lift for about a grand for a week. Considering the increased productivity and not having to build scaffold you could be done much faster. A man lift on rough terrain you should be using a harness as well as they can become a catapult if not careful. The tow behind man lifts are cheaper maybe half price but you will need to be able to drive all around your house with a truck or tractor.

 

[ratface]

Jeffcat , thks for posting the vidio, I didn't know such things existed. I will try and buy one of those roof anchors as it should work for me all around the top of the house.

The man lift idea is a good one but I have uneven terrain all around the house, built on hill. I am also hours from any place that rents them and actually own my own 3 tier scaffolding with top saftey rails and real Osha walking planks, I'm not using and lumber to walk around on. I only have two really high sides and have already finished one. The reason I was looking for a harness is that I took a small fall about two feet off the ground and it scared me a bit, could have just as easily been all the way up. I was just moving to fast and mis-stepped.

 

[dr sportster]

After a fall hanging from the harness for more than ten minutes cause massive problems to leg circulation. You need a rescue plan . I would buy the harness that absorbs the fall . Expensive but worth the money. I keep a big rope loop around chimney and tie off to that. Tying off to the man lift or scaffolding makes no sense. My lanyard is a shock absorber on what I have now.

 

[David G]

I would agree with the others, fall protection should be tied to the house, with a shock absorbing harness.

It would be much easier to use a lift.

 

[ss55]

It's possible that having safety equipment without knowing how to use it properly could give you a false sense of security. That could put you in more danger than not having it at all.

Do you have other uses for the safety equipment or is it for a one time use? Many professional painters have the tools, skills and experience to do a great job in very little time, their efficiency keeps the costs down. Check into the cost of hiring a professional painter do the higher parts or the whole job and maybe apply the cost of the safety equipment towards hiring someone. Compare that cost to the time it will take to do it yourself to figure what you make per hour of your time if you do it yourself. Some people really enjoy painting and roofing at tall heights, others dread it.

 

[David G]

I do not like heights, easier for me to hire out.

 

[Stephen Newell]

I'm 63 and when I'm working like that I just work a little slower. I think the safety equipment would cause me to fall. I did use a safety harness last year when I cut a tree down from the top down.