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48
HARNESSES � HARNAIS DE SÉCURITÉ
Harnesses:
Do or die
Powered access provides a safe, effective way
of working at height but pointless deaths are
being caused by people not wearing harnesses
on boom type machines.
What’s wrong with wearing a
safety harness? Why do so
many people not bother? It is
similar to the old argument
about the wearing of seat belts
in cars. Car seat belts now
save hundreds of lives every
year, yet there are still some
rare cases where observers
argue that not wearing a seat
belt, might have been better for
the victim of an accident. Those
rare cases are outnumbered
many, many times by the
thousands of people who are
saved by seat belts.
In our industry lives are saved by
wearing full body harnesses in
boom type platforms. People who
don’t wear them are assuming
that the ground will never subside
under their lift, that a passing
vehicle will never accidentally
strike their machine, that nobody
on a neighbouring machine will
ever make a mistake affecting
them etc etc. If any of these
problems situations occur while
in the basket of a boom lift, you
are likely to be thrown out.
A harness with short lanyard
saves lives in this situation.
Nearly every month Vertikal.net
reports on a fatal accident in
which the ground has given way
beneath an outrigger. In a recent
incident the truck turned over
and the boom fell on the roof of
a factory, about 10 metres high.
The impact threw the two men
out of the platform and to their
deaths. Neither was wearing
a harness.
Too many accidents happen for
want of a harness. Given the
potential dangers, not using a
harness on a boom lift, or not
insisting that your employees
use one, almost amounts to
a deliberate decision to put
lives at risk.
As part of its ongoing campaign
to promote safe work at height,
IPAF advises users of all boom
lifts to wear a full body harness
with an adjustable lanyard set
as short as is possible. IPAF’s
technical guidance note on
harnesses, issued with the
support of bodies such as the
Suva in Switzerland, the UK’s
HSE, BGFE in Germany, SIA in
the US and a host of other
organisations, can be downloaded
at www.ipaf.org/h10505.pdf.
However, the use of harnesses
and lanyards should always follow
a job-specific risk assessment and
abide by all regulations, employer
guidelines and manufacturer’s
operations manuals.
Using a harness properly needs
training and to be really effective
employees should have their
own, personal harness for which
they take responsibility. A clean,
comfortable, properly adjusted
harness is a sign of a professional,
skilled platform operator. Visit the
IPAF demonstration area, E9 E
010, during Intermat to see
how it’s done and pick up a free
copy of the Harness leaflet.
You might save a life?
This man was wearing a full body safety harness which saved his life when he overloaded
his basket by using it to lift a Christmas tree.
This man is wearing a harness,
but in the wrong way. If he
fell he could pull the
platform on top of him.
Les harnais
de sécurité:
Portez-les
ou…danger!
Les nacelles permettent de
travailler en hauteur avec
facilité et sécurité, pourtant des
morts inutiles sont causées par
des personnes ne portant pas
de harnais sur les nacelles à
flèches télescopiques.
Où est le problème dans le fait de
porter un harnais de sécurité?
Pourquoi tant de personnes les
ignorent-ils? C'est identique au
vieil argument sur le port de la
ceinture de sécurité dans les
voitures. Les ceintures dans les
voitures, aujourd'hui, sauvent des
centaines de vies chaque année,
et pourtant il y a toujours
quelques rares situations où les
observateurs relèvent qu'il aurait
été préférable, pour la victime,
qu'elle ne porte pas de ceinture
de sécurité. Ces rares cas, sont
plusieurs fois surpassés par les
milliers de personnes sauvées
par leur ceinture.
Dans notre activité, grâce au port
du harnais complet, des vies sont
sauvées sur les nacelles à flèche
télescopique. Les personnes qui ne
portent pas de harnais estiment
que le sol ne peut pas s'effondrer,
que jamais un véhicule ne
heurtera leur machine, que
personne sur une autre machine
environnante ne fera une erreur
qui pourrait les affecter, etc,
etc… Si l'une de ces situations