[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 8]
[Revised as of July 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR1926.500]
[Page 311-314]
TITLE 29--LABOR
CHAPTER XVII--OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT
OF LABOR
PART 1926_SAFETY AND HEALTH REGULATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION--Table of Contents
Subpart M_Fall Protection
Sec. 1926.500 Scope, application, and definitions applicable to this
Authority: Sec. 107, Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act
(Construction Safety Act) (40 U.S.C. 333); Sec. 4, 6, 8, Occupational
Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 653, 655, 657); Secretary of
Labor's Orders Nos. 1-90 (55 FR 9033), 6-96 (62 FR 111); and 3-2000 (65
FR 50017), as applicable, and 29 CFR Part 1911.
Source: 59 FR 40730, Aug. 9, 1994, unless otherwise noted.
subpart.
(a) Scope and application. (1) This subpart sets forth requirements
and criteria for fall protection in construction workplaces covered
under 29 CFR part 1926. Exception: The provisions of this subpart do not
apply when employees are making an inspection, investigation, or
assessment of workplace conditions prior to the actual start of
construction work or after all construction work has been completed.
[[Page 312]]
(2) Section 1926.501 sets forth those workplaces, conditions,
operations, and circumstances for which fall protection shall be
provided except as follows:
(i) Requirements relating to fall protection for employees working
on scaffolds are provided in subpart L of this part.
(ii) Requirements relating to fall protection for employees working
on certain cranes and derricks are provided in subpart N of this part.
(iii) Fall protection requirements for employees performing steel
erection work (except for towers and tanks) are provided in subpart R of
this part.
(iv) Requirements relating to fall protection for employees working
on certain types of equipment used in tunneling operations are provided
in subpart S of this part.
(v) Requirements relating to fall protection for employees engaged
in the erection of tanks and communication and broadcast towers are
provided in Sec. 1926.105.
(vi) Requirements relating to fall protection for employees engaged
in the construction of electric transmission and distribution lines and
equipment are provided in subpart V of this part.
(vii) Requirements relating to fall protection for employees working
on stairways and ladders are provided in subpart X of this part.
(3) Section 1926.502 sets forth the requirements for the
installation, construction, and proper use of fall protection required
by part 1926, except as follows:
(i) Performance requirements for guardrail systems used on scaffolds
and performance requirements for falling object protection used on
scaffolds are provided in subpart L of this part.
(ii) Performance requirements for stairways, stairrail systems, and
handrails are provided in subpart X of this part.
(iii) Additional performance requirements for personal climbing
equipment, lineman's body belts, safety straps, and lanyards are
provided in subpart V of this part.
(iv) Section 1926.502 does not apply to the erection of tanks and
communication and broadcast towers. (Note: Section 1926.104 sets the
criteria for body belts, lanyards and lifelines used for fall protection
during tank and communication and broadcast tower erection. Paragraphs
(b),(c) and (f) of Sec. 1926.107 provide definitions for the pertinent
terms.)
(4) Section 1926.503 sets forth requirements for training in the
installation and use of fall protection systems, except in relation to
steel erection activities.
(b) Definitions.
Anchorage means a secure point of attachment for lifelines, lanyards
or deceleration devices.
Body belt (safety belt) means a strap with means both for securing
it about the waist and for attaching it to a lanyard, lifeline, or
deceleration device.
Body harness means straps which may be secured about the employee in
a manner that will distribute the fall arrest forces over at least the
thighs, pelvis, waist, chest and shoulders with means for attaching it
to other components of a personal fall arrest system.
Buckle means any device for holding the body belt or body harness
closed around the employee's body.
Connector means a device which is used to couple (connect) parts of
the personal fall arrest system and positioning device systems together.
It may be an independent component of the system, such as a carabiner,
or it may be an integral component of part of the system (such as a
buckle or dee-ring sewn into a body belt or body harness, or a snap-hook
spliced or sewn to a lanyard or self-retracting lanyard).
Controlled access zone (CAZ) means an area in which certain work
(e.g., overhand bricklaying) may take place without the use of guardrail
systems, personal fall arrest systems, or safety net systems and access
to the zone is controlled.
Dangerous equipment means equipment (such as pickling or galvanizing
tanks, degreasing units, machinery, electrical equipment, and other
units) which, as a result of form or function, may be hazardous to
employees who fall onto or into such equipment.
Deceleration device means any mechanism, such as a rope grab, rip-
stitch lanyard, specially-woven lanyard, tearing or deforming lanyards,
automatic self-retracting lifelines/lanyards, etc.,
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which serves to dissipate a substantial amount of energy during a fall
arrest, or otherwise limit the energy imposed on an employee during fall
arrest.
Deceleration distance means the additional vertical distance a
falling employee travels, excluding lifeline elongation and free fall
distance, before stopping, from the point at which the deceleration
device begins to operate. It is measured as the distance between the
location of an employee's body belt or body harness attachment point at
the moment of activation (at the onset of fall arrest forces) of the
deceleration device during a fall, and the location of that attachment
point after the employee comes to a full stop.
Equivalent means alternative designs, materials, or methods to
protect against a hazard which the employer can demonstrate will provide
an equal or greater degree of safety for employees than the methods,
materials or designs specified in the standard.
Failure means load refusal, breakage, or separation of component
parts. Load refusal is the point where the ultimate strength is
exceeded.
Free fall means the act of falling before a personal fall arrest
system begins to apply force to arrest the fall.
Free fall distance means the vertical displacement of the fall
arrest attachment point on the employee's body belt or body harness
between onset of the fall and just before the system begins to apply
force to arrest the fall. This distance excludes deceleration distance,
and lifeline/lanyard elongation, but includes any deceleration device
slide distance or self-retracting lifeline/lanyard extension before they
operate and fall arrest forces occur.
Guardrail system means a barrier erected to prevent employees from
falling to lower levels.
Hole means a gap or void 2 inches (5.1 cm) or more in its least
dimension, in a floor, roof, or other walking/working surface.
Infeasible means that it is impossible to perform the construction
work using a conventional fall protection system (i.e., guardrail
system, safety net system, or personal fall arrest system) or that it is
technologically impossible to use any one of these systems to provide
fall protection.
Lanyard means a flexible line of rope, wire rope, or strap which
generally has a connector at each end for connecting the body belt or
body harness to a deceleration device, lifeline, or anchorage.
Leading edge means the edge of a floor, roof, or formwork for a
floor or other walking/working surface (such as the deck) which changes
location as additional floor, roof, decking, or formwork sections are
placed, formed, or constructed. A leading edge is considered to be an
``unprotected side and edge'' during periods when it is not actively and
continuously under construction.
Lifeline means a component consisting of a flexible line for
connection to an anchorage at one end to hang vertically (vertical
lifeline), or for connection to anchorages at both ends to stretch
horizontally (horizontal lifeline), and which serves as a means for
connecting other components of a personal fall arrest system to the
anchorage.
Low-slope roof means a roof having a slope less than or equal to 4
in 12 (vertical to horizontal).
Lower levels means those areas or surfaces to which an employee can
fall. Such areas or surfaces include, but are not limited to, ground
levels, floors, platforms, ramps, runways, excavations, pits, tanks,
material, water, equipment, structures, or portions thereof.
Mechanical equipment means all motor or human propelled wheeled
equipment used for roofing work, except wheelbarrows and mopcarts.
Opening means a gap or void 30 inches (76 cm) or more high and 18
inches (48 cm) or more wide, in a wall or partition, through which
employees can fall to a lower level.
Overhand bricklaying and related work means the process of laying
bricks and masonry units such that the surface of the wall to be jointed
is on the opposite side of the wall from the mason, requiring the mason
to lean over the wall to complete the work. Related work includes mason
tending and electrical installation incorporated into the brick wall
during the overhand bricklaying process.
[[Page 314]]
Personal fall arrest system means a system used to arrest an
employee in a fall from a working level. It consists of an anchorage,
connectors, a body belt or body harness and may include a lanyard,
deceleration device, lifeline, or suitable combinations of these. As of
January 1, 1998, the use of a body belt for fall arrest is prohibited.
Positioning device system means a body belt or body harness system
rigged to allow an employee to be supported on an elevated vertical
surface, such as a wall, and work with both hands free while leaning.
Rope grab means a deceleration device which travels on a lifeline
and automatically, by friction, engages the lifeline and locks so as to
arrest the fall of an employee. A rope grab usually employs the
principle of inertial locking, cam/level locking, or both.
Roof means the exterior surface on the top of a building. This does
not include floors or formwork which, because a building has not been
completed, temporarily become the top surface of a building.
Roofing work means the hoisting, storage, application, and removal
of roofing materials and equipment, including related insulation, sheet
metal, and vapor barrier work, but not including the construction of the
roof deck.
Safety-monitoring system means a safety system in which a competent
person is responsible for recognizing and warning employees of fall
hazards.
Self-retracting lifeline/lanyard means a deceleration device
containing a drum-wound line which can be slowly extracted from, or
retracted onto, the drum under slight tension during normal employee
movement, and which, after onset of a fall, automatically locks the drum
and arrests the fall.
Snaphook means a connector comprised of a hook-shaped member with a
normally closed keeper, or similar arrangement, which may be opened to
permit the hook to receive an object and, when released, automatically
closes to retain the object. Snaphooks are generally one of two types:
(1) The locking type with a self-closing, self-locking keeper which
remains closed and locked until unlocked and pressed open for connection
or disconnection; or
(2) The non-locking type with a self-closing keeper which remains
closed until pressed open for connection or disconnection. As of January
1, 1998, the use of a non-locking snaphook as part of personal fall
arrest systems and positioning device systems is prohibited.
Steep roof means a roof having a slope greater than 4 in 12
(vertical to horizontal).
Toeboard means a low protective barrier that will prevent the fall
of materials and equipment to lower levels and provide protection from
falls for personnel.
Unprotected sides and edges means any side or edge (except at
entrances to points of access) of a walking/working surface, e.g.,
floor, roof, ramp, or runway where there is no wall or guardrail system
at least 39 inches (1.0 m) high.
Walking/working surface means any surface, whether horizontal or
vertical on which an employee walks or works, including, but not limited
to, floors, roofs, ramps, bridges, runways, formwork and concrete
reinforcing steel but not including ladders, vehicles, or trailers, on
which employees must be located in order to perform their job duties.
Warning line system means a barrier erected on a roof to warn
employees that they are approaching an unprotected roof side or edge,
and which designates an area in which roofing work may take place
without the use of guardrail, body belt, or safety net systems to
protect employees in the area.
Work area means that portion of a walking/working surface where job
duties are being performed.
[59 FR 40730, Aug. 9, 1994, as amended at 60 FR 39255, Aug. 2, 1995; 66
FR 5265, Jan. 18, 2001]
