fall protection standards have changed we should talk about how this affects self- retracting lifelines John is it mandatory that people update existing srls to the new standard revision so short answer for this would be no longer answer for this would be it really depends so for the short answer it you know existing srl equipment that has been manufactured to the previous revisions of this ansy standard can continue to be used as long as they meet inspection and they meet the manufacturer's instructions now the longer answer it depends really depends on where the work is being performed what jurisdictions you know the the end user falls under so if they're doing a job uh through em385 which is US Army Corp of Engineers they may say that you need this updated ANC uh 2021 srl equipment um company policy might say the same but the short answer is really according to OSHA you know know the the equipment that's currently being used can continue to be used as long as it passes inspection have the arresting distances changed for both classes yeah so the previous uh 2014 revision of this ansy standard had a Class A and A Class B Class A had an arrest distance of 24 in and Class B had an arrestance distance of 54 in under this new 2021 standard both uh distances for class one and class two is now 42 in so that is a change that we do see with this standard has the fall protection code increased the maximum user weight capacity no so that is one thing that hasn't changed ANC allows equipment manufacturers for fall protection to test from 130 lb on the low end to 310 lbs on the high end that has not changed with this 2021 self- retracting device uh revision so we still have that uh maximum and minimum capacity there for ansy has the qualification testing mass for manufacturer been increased um actually yes so one of the things that has changed along with 18 other changes that manufacturers uh saw in terms of both updates and new changes for designing testing and Manufacturing self- retracting devices has been an increased test Mass the previous test Mass was 282 pounds the new test Mass um is actually 310 lb so not a significant change in weight but that does align us with the top end or the highend of an's weight capacity and it also gets rid of any you know potential gray area I believe in the previous standard 282 lbs it was believed that it represented a 3 310b worker but you know what what was the science behind that so now we actually align that weight with the the test Mass any new labeling requirements so new labeling requirements um do exist for both class one and class two so labels have to be AIX to the product displaying the class so whether it is a Class one device or a class two device but an interesting thing um that I actually see as a benefit the fall clearance indicator tables have to actually be at or near the point of attachment to the full body harness so prior to the standard change you would have to look at an instruction manual to try to find a clearance table now that clearance table is actually on the device which makes it easier for a worker to see how much clearance they need depending on how they're using that system so with this revision were new srl classifications created um again yes so so back in the 2014 revision we had class A devices and we had class B devices now we have three main types and two classes for those three types so we have standard self- retracting lifelines where the housing gets anchored to the structure we have self- retracting lifelines that are designed for personal use called srl DPS that is where the housing gets attached to the workers's harness and then we also have srl D RS which are rescue and retrieval devices within these three types these three categories there is a Class one device and a class two device so class one devices have to be used where the worker is going to Anchor it at their ding height or higher anywhere ding height or higher we could use a class one but depending on the worker's applications if they're chasing anchor points at their knee level at foot level sometimes that anchor Point's overhead they're probably going to be better off in that class 2 device as Class 2 is designed for a anchors at deing height above or below down to foot level and they also include the 2014 Leading Edge standard so that class 2 is really that more robust self- retracting device for somebody in construction somebody in maintenance who might be tying off at foot level they might be tying off overhead and then that class one device is really geared towards the user that always has that Anchor Point overhead can Distributors still sell srds as a distributor this is a this is a good question for for our friends at fastel right so yes after August 1st 2023 if you still have stock of those existing self- retracting devices that were made to that 2014 standard you can absolutely still sell them just as the end users can continue to use them however us as an equipment manufacturer so 3M and 3m's competitors anything after August 1st of this year 2023 if we want to claim this new ansy standard it has to meet the new standard it can't meet that 2014 standard here's a hypothetical for you let's say that someone has existing fall protection Anchorage is it sufficient to use with the can they use that Anchorage with the srls newly certified to the updated standard so here's another one of those it depends answers right so in addition to the test mass weight increasing from 282 to 310 now we're stopping self- retracting devices quicker we had 54 in in the past now we have 42 in so that does result in some increases in arresting forces from around 900 lb to 1350b so if we're thinking of that qualified person and the engineered anchors that they've installed or designed often times these are based on a two to1 safety factor from the maximum arresting force of the equipment so for the current devices that they're using they're probably going to be okay it's still good to double check but any new new devices under this uh 2021 revision we're going to have to validate that the anchors are appropriate for that 2:1 safety Factor so for example if the maximum arresting Force used to be 1350 that qualified person could probably get away with a 2700 lb Anchor Point but with this new revision if that maximum arresting Force increases to 1,800 we would need a 3600 lb structure or Anchor Point to make that work so there are some changes with things like uh confined space equipment tripods davit arms engineered rooftop anchor points horizontal lifelines um so that end user really needs to be dialed into the equipment that they're using and understand not only the capabilities but really the limitations of how I shouldn't be using these [Music] products