Compliance with a standard is mandatory if stated as such in the work health and safety legislation. Neither AS/NZS 1891.4 nor AS/NZS 5532 are mandatory standards in the legislation.

However, the falls code does include references to the AS/NZS 1891 series and ‘relevant Australian/New Zealand Standards’.

1981 Series definitions.

 Free fall:

An uncontrolled, change in elevation at the vertical rate of gravity (g) being 9.8 m/s/s

 Free fall arrest:

An uncontrolled change in elevation of not more than 2000mm, at the vertical rate of g, that is arrested by a lanyard assembly – harness – connector, system.

Guide To LINQ Fall Arrest Systems by the man who engineered the range, Stephen Sugden.

Stephen Sugden throws himself off a ladder to demonstrate the forces applied to the body during a fall from height.

He also discusses how to safely fit a harness and how different harness designs work.

Given the number of questions received in relation to Australian Standards AS/NZS 5532 and AS/NZS 1891.4 and the Work Health and Safety legislation SafeWork NSW has published a fact sheet explaining their expectations.

The Occupational Health and Safety (Prevention of Falls) Regulations 2003 require employers to implement the most effective fall prevention measures reasonably practicable when employees are working at height.

Twin tail fall arrest lanyards (interim advice)

A worker recently received fatal injuries as a result of falling from a transmission tower near Toowoomba. The worker was using a twin tail fall arrest lanyard at the time of the incident when he fell. He suffered fatal injuries when his lanyard failed.