PPE Essentials for Elevator Maintenance & Repair Teams

We'll discuss the most essential factors to consider when choosing fall protection harnesses and other confined space equipment, including the regulations and considerations that apply to a broad range of elevator repair work scenarios.

Elevator Fall Protection Essentials

Choosing fall protection PPE for elevator service is an investment that will impact equipment reliability and worker safety for years. Researching the right PPE solution will be time well spent, especially if you've had protection equipment that's left you feeling less than fully supported in the past.

First, it's necessary to understand each fall and confined space hazard you seek to address. By thoroughly analyzing the challenges, you're better equipped to minimize them to begin with. Combined with an optimal PPE solution, you'll have the tools and knowledge to handle just about any elevator safety risk you encounter.

Which Elevator Repair Risks Are Under Your Control?

Elevator repair and maintenance often involves numerous overlapping fall protection risks. Along with placing workers at great heights for extended periods, there's also the possibility of objects falling from above or dropping down below. This underpins the most critical fall safety measure of all: awareness.

Even the most effective fall protection harnesses and lifelines on the market should be viewed as collateral to finely tuned procedures. Fail-safe PPE design is an equal priority to the need for situational awareness and robust safety measures. Consider:

• Falls are one of the primary causes of confined space injuries

• Tight surroundings can exacerbate the severity of falls

• Any work that can be done without entering an elevator car or shaft should be

• Eliminating the hazards under your control should also be done from a non-elevated position whenever possible

• Maintaining communication between confined space entrants and attendants could prove as important as a physical lifeline

As crucial as fall protection and confined space equipment is, the truest measure of success is completing a shift without letting it activate at all.

Gauging The Inherent Risks

When do OSHA fall protection and confined space hazards both apply? For elevator repair work, it doesn't take much:

• Duty to have fall protection, such as personal fall arrest systems, exists for construction and general industry at 6 ft (1.8 m) and 4 ft (1.2 m), respectively – and this also applies to hoisting operations

• Proximity to dangerous machinery, such as electromechanical devices, also poses fall risks, regardless of height (see OSHA 1910 and this overview of machine hazards)

• A confined space hazard is any space that's (1) possible for a worker to enter and perform work, (2) isn't intended for continuous occupancy, and (3) has limited entry and exit points

All three are so common to elevator work that it's essential to be prepared for simultaneous fall and confined space protection at almost any time.

Further, elevators are usually permit-required confined spaces, which applies when an acute hazard is also present beyond the inherent risks (see OSHA 1910.146). In elevators, the most likely acute hazards are:

• Fall hazards from numerous kinds of elevated platforms – but some fall injuries result from the safety equipment itself, in which case, shock-absorbing lanyards can more effectively prevent fall injuries than standard equipment

• Struck-by or caught-between hazards, making it essential that retracting lifelines are precision engineered to only activate in a true fall scenario; not when workers move quickly to avoid other dangers

• Falling object risks, where it's important to keep lifelines and other suspended equipment from swinging into objects (underpinning the importance of smooth, automatic lifeline retraction yet again)

• High-voltage machinery, if it cannot be de-energized and locked out/tagged out according to the process outlined in OSHA 1910.47

• Hazardous atmosphere, including flammable dust and grease common to elevator pits (see OSHA 1918.93)

• Strong air currents caused by ventilation/pressure dynamics – in which something as simple as a D-ring anchor that rotates freely will allow workers to make sudden balance adjustments without interference, even at the lifeline's maximum length

Additional Considerations for Maritime Elevators

For elevator repair work in marine terminals, OSHA 1917.116 carries a few additional considerations for safe elevator work, such as the need for "designated persons" for elevators that are (A) not automatic and (B) lack interlocking doors and automatic car leveling.

Additional Considerations for Underground Construction

Not all elevator hazards apply to towering heights. If elevator maintenance work takes you underground during tunnel or shaft construction, workers may face additional regulatory requirements related to OSHA 1926.800. At the very least, they'll need additional safety instructions (see 1926.800[d]).

Adapting Your PPE to Multiple Hazards

How do these risks affect your choice in PPE for elevator work? Given the broad range of fall, shock, atmospheric, crush, and confined space hazards involved, it's essential to choose fall protection equipment that won't interfere with easy movement nor cause discomfort.

A high-comfort harness may not seem like the most important consideration when the primary goal is safety – but the reality is, any distraction holds the potential to increase danger during high-risk scenarios. Discomfort could also denote an improper fitting harness, which itself could harm workers during a fall. Similarly, tricky mechanisms reduce the likelihood of perfect, automatic deployment during an emergency.

Yet your PPE must also be as effective as possible, challenging manufacturers to produce gear that offers both greater function and ease of use. This filters out all but the most experienced manufacturers who take into account the widest range of OSHA, ANSI, ASSE, and other technical/regulatory standards. However, even the perfect equipment only goes so far.

The onus rests squarely on the shoulders of safety managers and their staff to ensure they're meeting the correct OSHA or CCOHS standards.
Always ensure you're following the regulations that apply to your location and scope of work.

Built with Industry-Specific Knowledge

During elevator repairs and maintenance, technicians must have perfect confidence in their fall protection harnesses and confined space equipment. The simultaneous existence of multiple hazards in the same space creates much more complex safety issues that require more diligent foresight and planning.

It can be a lot to digest, especially when your company is also responsible for various revenue and workload matters. However, it will all be for nothing without ensuring everyone involved can do so safely and effectively.

For over 70 years, Tractel® has been refining some of the most sophisticated fall protection technologies in use today. We never compromise on quality, because we never expect our customers to, either. Contact us using the form in the top-right corner of the screen, and discover the most cost-effective and functional elevator PPE on the market today.

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