Development and implementation of procedures for testing lanyards used in equipment protecting against falls from a height

The principal aim of this task consisted in creating a method of an objective assessment of the protective parameters of lanyards and work positioning lanyards, used as connecting components and providing their user with a supported position in systems protecting against falls from a height. A theoretical analysis ? including a computer simulation ? was performed. Laboratory tests of phenomena present when low stretch lanyards arrest falls were also conducted. To conduct those tests, a new supporting structure for dynamic tests of equipment protecting against falls from a height was designed. This construction was anchored on the walls of the Department of Personal Protective Equipment of the Central Institute for Labour Protection ? National Research Institute in Łódź. New software for controlling a Zwick-type static testing machine was also developed. It makes it possible to obtain the required course of loading during resistance tests for static load of lanyards and work positioning lanyards. The test results were used to develop new assessment criteria and methods of testing low stretch lanyards.