ASSE Announces Revised Workplace Fall Protection Standard

The standard establishes definitions and nomenclature for fall arrest and fall protection equipment, including those used for all the current Z359 standards.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), out of the 5,071 fatal on-the-job injuries that occurred in 2008 in the United States, 680 were attributed to falls. In addition, Richard Fairfax, director of OSHA’s directorate of enforcement programs, recently noted that fall protection is one of the top 10 most cited OSHA violations for 2009.

ASSE serves as the secretariat for the Z359 Fall Protection standards, or Fall Protection Code. The ASSE Fall Protection Code now includes nine standards:

• Z359.0-2009 – Definitions and Nomenclature Used for Fall Protection and Fall Arrest
• Z359.1-2007 –Safety Requirements for Personal Fall Arrest Systems, Subsystems and Components
• Z359.2-2007 – Minimum Requirements for a Comprehensive Managed Fall Protection Program
• Z359.3-2007 – Safety Requirements for Positioning and Travel Restraint Systems
• Z359.4-2007 – Safety Requirements for Assisted-Rescue and Self-Rescue Systems, Subsystems and Components
• Z359.6-2009 – Specification and Design Requirements for Active Fall Protection Systems
• Z359.12-2009 – Connecting Components for Personal Fall Arrest Systems
• Z359.13-2009 – Personal Energy Absorbers and Energy Absorbing Lanyards
• ANSI/ASSE Z359.1-1992 (R1999)

The ANSI/ASSE Z359 ASC for Fall Arrest/Protection also is working on 10 additional Z359 standards projects aimed at protecting workers from falls.

The standard can be downloaded for free at http://www.asse.org/shoponline/z359form.php.