Testing & Recertification
Single point anchors are designed to be used for personal fall arrest or fall restraint. These anchors are designed to take on large ultimate loads and are crucial in saving a worker’s life in the event of a fall. An anchor point consists of three main sections; opening for the tie-off, the anchor structure and the connection to the structure. Any of these three areas can degrade over time due to excessive wear, extreme weather conditions, changing building elements or misuse. As a result, fall protection standards require that single anchor points are inspected prior to each use to ensure that they are in safe working condition.
As a result, fall protection anchor standards require that all single anchor points and life line systems are inspected by a competent person other than the user yearly. Without annual documented competent person inspections, single point anchors are considered out of compliance and out of warranty. This means that building owners who do not provide inspected equipment are liable for any failure of such fall protection anchors.
US fall Protection frequently performs on-site fall protection inspections of existing single point anchors. Inspections consist of a thorough review of existing safety procedures, a visual inspection of the single point anchors and a load test on at least 10% of the existing anchors. While a load test is not required by OSHA, we highly recommend that it is performed as it is the only way that building owners and future workers can be guaranteed that they are attaching to safe anchor points.
Annual inspections include all necessary documentation required by OSHA so that they can be stored on site to ensure that the building owner is in compliance.
