Simulated fall with a restrain lanyard

Simulated fall with a restrain lanyard

Fall protection serves two purposes: First to keep you from hitting the ground in the event of the fall, and second to keep the arresting forces on your body to a minimum. This video shows a simulated fall with a restraint lanyard. Fall restraint lanyards are designed to keep you from getting close enough to the edge to fall, not to arrest your fall.

Without a shock absorber, the sudden stop at the end of a fall could cause severe injury. When your harness is attached to the anchor point, you should not be able to get in a position to fall. For instance, the edge might be on a work platform. The restraint lanyard should keep you from reaching that edge. 

Because a restraint lanyard has no shock absorbing feature, all of the speed and energy that you build up while falling, is released on your body when you finally do stop. A fall for a 310 lb. person would result in about 4000 lbs. of force on their body!

You will be able to see this incredible amount of force at work while watching this video. It doesn't look too good for our test weight!