Can Safety Harness Kill you?

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MikeW

Member
At work, while discussing safety, one of my co-workers told me that a Safety Harness could kill you. He says he read if you hung in a safety harness for 4 or 5 minutes it could kill you.

Our Safety Department said they never heard of this before and acted like they didn?t think much of the possible hazard. Has anyone else ever heard of this concern? 4 or 5 minutes doesn?t sound like a lot of time.
 

djohns6

Senior Member
Location
Louisiana
Yes , our safety guys teach this . If you hang in a harness for too long , it cut's off the blood flow in the lower part of the body . Don't remember how long they said .
 

ohmhead

Senior Member
Location
ORLANDO FLA
At work, while discussing safety, one of my co-workers told me that a Safety Harness could kill you. He says he read if you hung in a safety harness for 4 or 5 minutes it could kill you.

Our Safety Department said they never heard of this before and acted like they didn’t think much of the possible hazard. Has anyone else ever heard of this concern? 4 or 5 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot of time.

Well yes it can kill you if you hang from a safety harness you can cut off the blood supply circulation to the legs right side up its worst and if your hurt this is the worst place to be .

And yes right side up is bad news blood collects in your legs less flow to your heart its getting cut off slowly

But our safety harness we have come with a leg strap you can rest one leg at a time inside this strap thats if your able to do it .

I cant recall the time limit but its not long .
 
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ohmhead

Senior Member
Location
ORLANDO FLA
Well this is what your need to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_trauma

But i work mostly commercial industrial we all use a safety harness everyday at least 80 % of our workers in the field we all are trained and we all now use the leg support which attaches to our harness if one falls you can if needed open it up and use it to support your legs while help is on its way .

But its not easy to use and when you fall its hard to say if one can do it .

It will support your legs

In my years ive seen many workers hurt in many different ways and ive wittness construction workers die due to accidents on job sites its not a good place to make a living but one needs to be up on all the new devices out there to maybe help one get thur a major accident nothing is safe in construction work .

But you must ware a harness and yes you could actually die in the process but without it your not going to ever get the chance to live .
 

ceb58

Senior Member
Location
Raeford, NC
I remember reading in a hunting magazine about hunters that have been found dead due to falling out of tree stands and hanging by the safety harness. If I remember correctly they gave a time of about 15 min. for you to go into cardiac arrest.
In a tower climbing class the guy that was the "victim" was hanging from the tower by his harness. The guy that was to hook him up to the pulley and rescue him took a little longer than he should have. When they did let the victim down after hanging about 10 min. he was faint and very nauseated.
 

don_resqcapt19

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
retired electrician
There is no reason why a safety harness cannot be designed like a rescue or climbing harness...ones that are designed to support you for hours at a time. One of the issues with construction safety harnesses is not having them properly adjusted and fitted as well as not wearing them tight enough.
 

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
There is no reason why a safety harness cannot be designed like a rescue or climbing harness...ones that are designed to support you for hours at a time. One of the issues with construction safety harnesses is not having them properly adjusted and fitted as well as not wearing them tight enough.


I agree, tree workers and recreational climbers use climbing harnesses all of the time and can be suspended for long periods without any problems. If the inherent danger is with the design of a fall arrest harness then it should be changed.
 

ohmhead

Senior Member
Location
ORLANDO FLA
Well with all do respect to the posts above please understand its all about money cost nothing changes until many many workers die thats a fact of safety .

But in response to Don you can not tighten up the harness if you ware one each day and fall your going to hurt yourself more than if its not tight i know this to be a fact .
This will break bones and also cut off the blood flow faster than you may think were trained but miller safety on there equipment yearly they tell us this in class .

They make saddles under you butt most climbers use that to help and they can use the tree or a rock to move legs but a guy hanging up 30 stories can not push off or move his legs if you can keep moving your fine its when you stop thats the issue .
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
But in response to Don you can not tighten up the harness if you ware one each day and fall your going to hurt yourself more than if its not tight i know this to be a fact

I strongly disagree, a loose harness will do more harm to you than a tight harness. This is why seat belts in autos have seat belt tighteners that trigger when you get in an accident.

You do not want any space between you and the harness.

I do agree that it is almost imposable to work all day with a properly worn harness.
 

ohmhead

Senior Member
Location
ORLANDO FLA
I strongly disagree, a loose harness will do more harm to you than a tight harness. This is why seat belts in autos have seat belt tighteners that trigger when you get in an accident.

You do not want any space between you and the harness.

I do agree that it is almost imposable to work all day with a properly worn harness.


Well iwire we dont mean just hanging off loose we mean not tight on the leg straps not your upper harness thats tight the part your lanyard is connected to but your leg straps if tight will hurt you more than if loose like i said this is what they teach us in safety class by Miller which is the biggest supplier of safety stuff around Meaning not so your leg comes out but not so tight you feel pressure like a belt around your waste .


This is what they teach so if its wrong this is what they put out and there thee experts it makes sense if you fall two reasons blood flow and getting out fast . But theres one more thing when you drop down if its tight around the upper legs the pressure is extreme its x times the force around your upper leg meaning bones break .

Ill find you something from miller stating this fact from work .

I dont make this stuff up when its safety .:D

I only make stuff up about electrical work .:D:D
 

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
But with all of this talk of bones breaking and extreme pressure isn't that why we use a lanyard with some kind of deceleration device built in, to compensate for the extreme forces of breaking the fall?
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
Well iwire we dont mean just hanging off loose we mean not tight on the leg straps not your upper harness thats tight the part your lanyard is connected to but your leg straps if tight will hurt you more than if loose like i said this is what they teach us in safety class by Miller which is the biggest supplier of safety stuff around Meaning not so your leg comes out but not so tight you feel pressure like a belt around your waste .


This is what they teach so if its wrong this is what they put out and there thee experts it makes sense if you fall two reasons blood flow and getting out fast . But theres one more thing when you drop down if its tight around the upper legs the pressure is extreme its x times the force around your upper leg meaning bones break .

Ill find you something from miller stating this fact from work .

I dont make this stuff up when its safety .:D

I only make stuff up about electrical work .:D:D

I am having a hard time understanding what you are trying to say but if you are saying someone is teaching that loose harness are correct then you should find some better safety trainers.

As Rob points out the lanyard has the deceleration device in it.
 

Don S.

Member
The idea of serious problems associated with hanging in a harness are B.S. I have over 100 skydiving jumps, getting seriously jerked by the harness which was very similar to today?s safety harness. Depending on the situation sometimes spending 8-10 minutes hanging in the harness, with the pretty good bruises being the worst result
 

jmellc

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
Occupation
Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
I am still searching for a harness that doesn't bind me up. I am tall waisted and most harnesses I've worn bind me up terribly from shoulders to hips. I hav e often felt I was more dangerous with harness than without it. Hard to climb or crawl when straps are binding and tugging.

I'd love it if anyone knows a better class of harnesses and where to get them.
 

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
I am still searching for a harness that doesn't bind me up. I am tall waisted and most harnesses I've worn bind me up terribly from shoulders to hips. I hav e often felt I was more dangerous with harness than without it. Hard to climb or crawl when straps are binding and tugging.

I'd love it if anyone knows a better class of harnesses and where to get them.

You could look at the professional level Petzl harnesses. They are expensive but incorporate a lot of comfort and mobility features. Take a look at the photo and compare that to the everyday harness that we all wear now. IMO there's a huge difference besides the price. :)
navaho-bod-1.jpg

F_harnais_2.jpg

http://www.petzl.com/en/pro/vertica...itioning-and-fall-arrest-harnesses/navaho-bod
 
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