The Australian Standard AS/NZS 1891.4 Industrial fall-arrest systems and devices – Selection, use and maintenance clearly outlines the inspection criteria for all fall arrest equipment. Height safety equipment inspections are an important risk control and insure your equipment is in usable condition.
Your safety depends upon your height safety equipment being in good condition. What may appear as a small cut or hole could mean the integrity of the equipment has been compromised. This could mean that the forces generated in a fall may cause the equipment to fail. Regular inspections of your equipment are integral to maintaining your equipment in safe and usable condition. It is these regular checks that are going to save you or your co-workers life.
A trained height safety operator MUST inspect all equipment before and after each use. Inspection shall be by sight and touch and include.
- Where there is access for daily inspection you must open any equipment. This will ensure that internal components are in satisfactory condition.
- The opening or removal of temporary rope or line protectors, to enable rope to be properly inspected.
- Fall-arrest devices must have the locking mechanism checked to ensure it is operational.
All equipment MUST have a documented inspection every six months by a trained and experienced inspector.
- This inspection should be done in accordance with the standard and the manufacturer’s instructions.
- To ensure the traceability of maintenance records, you must keep a record card, history sheet or similar record for each item of equipment. Documentation on the maintenance and servicing history of an item must be available to operators and users..
- In addition to the six month inspection Type 2 and 3 fall arrest devices require a full factory inspection every 12 months.
- A service agent approved by the manufacturer of the device should perform the factory service.
This can be a very onerous task for small and large organisations alike. As well as inspecting the equipment, you must also manage and update the inspection records. This will ensure that your records show that the equipment is in current inspection.
At Height Dynamics we endeavour to take the pain out of your equipment inspections. Our unique tracking system records all the information required by the standard and provides ongoing reporting to meet your obligations under the Workplace Health and Safety Regulation.
Height Dynamics has developed their unique asset management system to assist our customers manage their register and meet these obligations. The key points of the system include;
- Recording of manufacturer, model, unique serial number, date of manufacturer and date of purchase to accurately identify each piece of equipment.
- Recording of each inspection and any notes associated with that inspection.
- Provision of a report to the customer to identify each item with its date of inspection and when its next inspection is due.
- Recording of location (team member, vehicle, etc) of each item to allow customers to easily locate the item.
- Provision of a reminder for each item 4-6 weeks before the inspection of that item is due.
- On-line access for customers to view their register at any time. (This includes the ability to down load a range of reports in a variety of formats)
Height Dynamics asset management system provides the following advantages.
- A trained, experienced and nationally accredited equipment inspector will perform all inspections.
- Online access to your equipment register on our central database.
- Historical data available for all inspections.
- Next inspection due report provided to alert you when your inspection is due.
- Follow up phone call to ensure that you have received the next inspection due report. We will also arrange a suitable time for this inspection.
- Inspection reports record the information as outlined in the Australian Standard.
- Inspection reports available for each user. Our reports comply with current regulations with regard to maintaining records.