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Our lineworkers use full body harness and lanyards when working in the buckets for “fall protection”. The trouble guys are looking at using a body belt and 2 foot lanyard anchored to the boom as a “fall restraint” system instead of the full body set up. The claim is that they can not fall out of the bucket as their feet can only come about 1 foot off the platform, it’s more efficient if they are moving from pole to pole and it eliminates the rescue issue while working alone during troubleshooting.
Here are some points you can use to counter your workers’ arguements: 1. They cannot move with a 2 ft lanyard and cannot position around average size bucket for convenient reach. 2. They can fall while getting into and getting out of the bucket. 3. Buckets do tip upside down and suspending in a waist belt leads to blood-pooling which is much less likely in a harness. 4. The lanyard attachment point is a trip hazard. 5. The equipment gets kicked around and possibly results in distorted gates. 6. Moving in and out of the bucket can only be done safely with the Wishbone device or equivalent  Google this device. What about the retractable lanyard which is attached to a point 5 ft high? Making protection followed by self-rescue is a possibility.

I work on one of the ships and there are some arguements regarding safety in a genie lift. We have a 40′ & and a 35′ genie lift’s. The arguement is wheather or not to safety off to the basket when in the air as oppose to a grid, truss or safety cable. Please advise with safety material.
Seems like it is agreed there is a hazard but which one is it. If there are several hazards recognized then they must each be addressed. Whether to use a fall arrest anchorage attached to the bucket or boom or independently to an object close to the work seems to be the question. Some might argue all three! The issue may be a fall arrest or restraint issue from falling over the railing edge while over-reaching or impact to the lift. Alternatively the bucket could tip due to electronic failure. Alternatively the entire aerial lift could tip over promoting a remote anchorage if possible. Then there are work operations besides access issues and the number of occupants of the platform. These factors include: platform size, weight of occupants in your crew, and manufacturers instructions and labels. What type applications are there in rigging; could these be at sea in the theater with roll  how is this described?