Harness advice

[oli]

HI guys,

 

Im looking to buy my harness, fall arrest and work positioning gear and im looking for some advice on what to buy and what to look for. Used my work provoded harness and gear all the time but I have left there now and need my own gear.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Oli

[AndyJones]

What I have, and works for me REALLY well is this set up. I do have lots of other bits and pieces which I use for specialist rope access:

 

Petzl Navaho Bod fast (harness)

Petzl ABSORBIA Y-80 MGO (fall arrestor)

Petzl Grillion (work postioning Lanyard)

Petzl Gri Gri (descender)

 

All products can be found here

 

Some things to note:

 

1) A climbers chalk bag is useful for storing bits and bobs at height.

2)Use steel carabiners. They are heavier but stronger and last longer.

3)Be prepared to pay alot for this. You will be wearing it all day it needs to be comfy. You are also paying for good quality kit, and when it comes to things like fall arrestors it only needs to work once, but when it does need to work you need to be sure it's going to do it's job!

4)You will need to learn how to check your gear. It needs a thorough check every six months (more often if you use it every day) You also need to learn how to check everything prior to use.

 

The main thing to remember is except the high price-Don't buy budget rubbish you will regret it. Can't think of anything else to add to this, I feel sure others will be along soon!

 

Regards

 

AndyJones

[techywhizz]

I've found the heightec harnesses are awesome. The zero g tower/rigger harness is an amazing harness great for every situation..

 

 

http://www.heightec.com/equipment/harnesse...s-zero-g_1.html

[jimbo7744]

I will second the advice of the Heightec Zero G harness. I have one as is very comfortable and allows free movement.

 

Buy the best you can afford, no cheapee's. If you need it, you will want it to be the best.

 

Jimbo

[Simon Lewis]

If you buy the Petzl Navaho Bod Croll Fast, it has a rope clamp built in. It's also pretty comfy...

[tokm]

Haven't seen one thing mentioned yet.... Helmets!

 

Personal choice was the Petzl Vertex Vent... Sure it doesn't conform to EN 397 (molten metal splash), but I don't plan on doing any jobs at foundry's anytime soon!

 

Got mine from Abacus (Industrial Safety Equipment LTD) >> Clicky, as I was also buying a new harness at the time (a Petzle Navaho Bod Fast - so another thumbs up for that harness from me) and they offered me a deal on the pair of items.. But their available from many other suppliers so use Google to shop around a bit.

 

HTH,

 

Tom

[scjb]

Just updated my fall protection kit after not having climbed in anger for some seven years. Third thumbs-up for the Navaho Bod Fast with Absorbica Y-MGO (all Petzl products). Plus they do it in a fat bloke size!! Worth the money.

 

EDIT: Must reread the post before hitting submit!

[Ike]

By far the best bit of advice is always try before you buy. While others have said the Zero G is 'very comfy' I find the shoulder straps really quite uncomfortable unless wearing it over a million layers of clothing. You also have to really look at how you work, almost all of what I do is restraint and work positioning rather than fall arrest so I've gone with the Petzl Navaho Vario sit harness and Chester if I need a higher attachment point. I also have a very cheap full body harness which is useful if I'm doing something particularly messy or I do have a million layers of clothing to act as padding.

 

I usually use a SAR rocker as my all round ascender, fall arrest and work positioning thingy, a Petzl Stop and Shunt. Perhaps slightly more controversially I also use a number of homemade cows tails and prussic loops (suitably labeled , inspected and recorded of course).

 

Helmet wise I have a Petzl Vertex without the vents. While it's warmer than the vented version it does protect you from shattering glass, metal, welding splatter, hot swarf and other rubbish.

[Seano]

Used my work provoded harness and gear all the time but I have left there now and need my own gear.

What gear did you have before? How did you find it? Maybe its time to revisit the thread and be a bit more specific about what you're looking for.

 

specialist rope access

Ha ha. Do you work offshore between gigs or something?

 

Petzl ABSORBIA Y-80 MGO (fall arrestor)

Here's somewhere Oli really needs to be more specific about what he wants to do. Great lanyard for double clipping your way along a truss, pretty rubbish for most other things. You need to take care about what you do with the 'spare' end:

http://www.tagsafety.com/info/lanyard_parker.php

 

Petzl Grillion (work postioning Lanyard)

Its actually spelled 'Grillon' - its french for 'cricket' (the insect) btw, its kind of obvious why when you look at the device.

Again, horses for courses. Tremendously useful for some, but mine only gets used about twice a year.

 

2)Use steel carabiners. They are heavier but stronger and last longer.

Cheaper too, Foin oval screwgates are great value. But its better not to be too dogmatic.

In particular, I really don't like to see steel krabs or unnecessary hardware (chain grabs, klein tools etc) swinging about on the end of a hauling line. The DMM Boa is my krab of choice for that. I favour the double action twistlock, but also available in triple action and screwgate.

 

Don't buy budget rubbish you will regret it.

Two warnings about this on this thread already. It surprises me. Where do you get 'budget rubbish'? I've never seen WaH gear for sale that wasn't fit for purpose.

 

If you buy the Petzl Navaho Bod Croll Fast, it has a rope clamp built in. It's also pretty comfy...

I'm impressed by the design of this, though like just about everyone in our industry I don't do enough SRT to justify it - my Croll spends most of its life sitting at the bottom of the bag unloved. Unlike a Basic, a Croll is no good for fall-arrest btw, so its only use is in ascending a rope.

 

 

By far the best bit of advice is always try before you buy. While others have said the Zero G is 'very comfy' I find the shoulder straps really quite uncomfortable unless wearing it over a million layers of clothing.

I agree. I haven't tried the Zero G, but it looks very similar to the (pre-Bod) Petzl Navaho. I used to find the shoulder straps very uncomfortable on that, tried padding them for a while but then gave up and just got into the habit of always wearing a polo shirt for work. The collar keeps the straps from chafing at the neck nicely.

My main problem with Petzl though (which is still an issue with the Bod) is the sizing. They only make 2 sizes to cover a huge range. The leg loops on the small size are about an inch too short to go around my thighs, but the large size is miles too big so whatever I do I can't get a Navaho to fit right. Not a problem for the great majority of people, just my bad luck I guess. I use a Troll Ibexx, and would definitely recommend it.

 

You also have to really look at how you work

Again, I agree. No point wearing a full-body harness all the time if a sit harness meets your needs. And for fall arrest only, there's no point wearing an excessively large, heavy multi-purpose harness. The Petzl Newton is very nice, if fall arrest is all you need, and unlike a Navaho can be worn comfortably with a tool-belt if scaffing is your thing.

 

Perhaps slightly more controversially I also use a number of homemade cows tails and prussic loops (suitably labeled , inspected and recorded of course).

A less controversial solution to making custom lanyards is to assemble one from Petzl parts. The Absorbica shock absorber is available as a separate component, and can be combined with one or more Jane rope lanyards to make a fall arrest lanyard. Best joined with maillons, for a double legged lanyard two Janes can be connected to a single Absorbica with a delta maillon.

 

Sean

x

[oli]

Hi Guys,

 

 

Thanks for your posts.

 

In response to seanos post I thought I would update what im looking for.

 

My last harness was provided by work new when I arrived and im fairly sure it was Petzl. Tried a friends Petzl Navaho on the other day and although I didnt go above 3 metres in it I found it comfortable, So I think I will be looking into one of those.

 

With regards as to what I will be doing. Most of my work is on temporary scaff/ truss installs, although I still occasionally have to rig ladders at heights so obviously looking for fall arrest.

 

So im looking for a harness that will provide me with a comfortable work postioning and a fall arrest system in place. Obviously I will need all the accompanying gear (grillons etc) so just looking at peoples set up so that I can try and buy what I need/feel comfortable using.

 

Thanks

 

Oli

[Al Cain]

Another vote for the following:

Petzl Navaho Bod fast

Petzl ABSORBIA Y-80 MGO

Petzl Grillion

Petzl Gri Gri

 

 

I use these for work a lot. Mostly for building truss or just working at height. Even when focusing over the edge of a dress circle in a theatre its useful.

 

HTH

 

Alex

[stillgoingstrong]

One thing to consider is the colour of the harness. It was only after I bought my Navaho Complet with its bright yellow shoulder straps that I discovered you could get all black harnesses.

 

Just a small note but one worth thinking about if you're possibly going to be up in visible positions where you don't want to be seen.

[hughesy]

Another vote for a Petzl rig, only I have the old Navaho Complet (can't justify a new Bod Fast yet) just wear a polo shirt like Seano said. Make sure all your kit complies to relevent EN standards as the National Rigging Certificate requires you to take all the paper work for all your kit to assessments (assuming you're gonna do it at some point) and they are different to standards for sports climbing gear.

 

Hop that helps, Dave

[adamharman]

I find my Petzl Navaho Complet very comfortable, although I believe it's been discontinued now and replaced by the Bod....

Not that I actually do any climbing for work, I mostly climb and abseil with scouts. Being a big bloke I find the sports harnesses with their narrow straps provided by the instructors rather painful. After a couple of sessions I bit the bullet and bought a decent harness that also replaced my old fall arrest harness which I use occasionally for work.

[AndrewR]

You might want to look at the Petzel ID instead of the Gri gri...

 

The ID is designed as a decender... Gri Gri's are actually designed for use in belaying. Also... if you do get anything for absailing/decending, you would obviously be getting something like an Asap to attach to your second line. Because we don't absail on a single line do we :P