Construction Crew – 10/06/2016
The first positive reactions in the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) market following the publication of the new Chapter 5 – Fall Protection Systems, of Regulatory Standard 35 (NR-35), could already be seen at the booths of the 21st International Safety and Protection Fair (Fisp 2016), which runs until October 7 at the São Paulo Expo Exhibition & Convention Center in São Paulo.
The new item 35.5, introduced by MTb Ordinance No. 1,113 of September 21, 2016, prohibits connecting the extension lanyard to another lanyard or to any additional connection element.
The objective is to eliminate the most serious irregularity in the use of PPE against falls on suspended scaffolding. To circumvent the worker's mobility limitation caused by a very short extender (about 40 cm), many construction sites across Brazil have independently adopted a lanyard extension. “The problem is that, in the event of a fall, the braking force of the system (guided-type fall arrester with rope or steel cable as an extender) is much higher than that designed by the manufacturer and approved by the Ministry of Labor, which can cause severe injuries,” says engineer Eduardo Nóbrega, from Gulin Equipamentos.
Although it is a standard that preserves the physical integrity of the worker at height, this prohibition in itself impairs the worker's performance because the short length of the lanyard severely limits the individual's mobility. Furthermore, the mandatory vertical lifeline is tensioned with a weight of about 7 kg, which makes the worker's movement even more difficult.
Gulin presented the 2G System as an alternative, consisting of a stainless steel cable grab with a double safety lock combined with a retractable fall arrest block with a 2-meter retractable synthetic webbing lanyard. The idea is to increase worker autonomy and freedom of movement while performing their activities.
Nóbrega explains that the rope grab (mobile anchor device for the fall arrester on the vertical lifeline) allows the immediate movement of the retractable fall arrester and can be attached to or removed from the vertical lifeline, which, in turn, is made of 16 mm diameter braided polyester rope. According to him, the use of the retractable cable in partnership with the rope grab helps the worker's mobility along the scaffolding and their approach to the facade.
According to the standards, the fall arrestor must be connected to the dorsal or frontal D-ring of the full-body harness without the addition of any other component. And suspended scaffolds must have a fastening system for the safety harness on a structure independent of the scaffold structure.
Furthermore, not only the execution of the construction work services but also the scaffolding assembly and disassembly activities must be performed by workers using full-body safety harnesses, equipped with a double lanyard or “Y” lanyard, with snap hooks having an opening of at least 5 centimeters.
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2AJ Equipamentos de Segurança also invested in presenting safety solutions for working at height and in confined spaces at Fisp. The company, which specializes in project engineering, is launching an automatic retractable fall arrester model featuring a remote-controlled steel cable release and retrieval system.
The Söll SafeLine 2.0 permanent horizontal height safety lifelines from Honeywell, on the other hand, function as an anchorage system for up to three workers. They can be used as an anchor point for rescue operations and, in the event of a fall, in addition to ensuring the worker's safety, they prevent structural damage.
The solution also incorporates a high-performance energy absorber with patented technology, capable of guaranteeing the dispersion of forces generated by a fall.
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