What is a Self-Retracting Lanyard (SRL)?

The leading cause of death in the construction industry is falling. Workers are at a higher risk of critical injury or death if they’re higher than six feet. Personal fall arrest systems, equipped with self-retracting lanyards, can help prevent falls in the workplace and save lives.

A self-retracting lanyard, also called a self-retracting lifeline or SRL, is a vertical fall protection lifeline that allows users to easily move around while keeping consistent tautness, effectively preventing falls. The lifeline, much like the seat and shoulder belt in a car, also pulls out and retracts easily. In the case of a fall or quick tug, an internal braking mechanism engages, effectively stopping the fall. The lifeline moves freely again after the tension releases.

During a fall event, the SRL’s internal braking system disperses the energy of the fall over a short distance, which limits the force applied to a user’s body. Self-retracting lifelines are an instrumental part of keeping your workers safe from falls. Below, we’ll discuss the history of SRLs, how the self-retracting lifeline mechanism works, the difference between fall protection lanyards and SRLs, and using an SRL with a body harness.

History

The SRL can trace its origins to the individual safety elevator, patented by Raymond Fertier in 1961. Fertier’s mechanism used a disk block to prevent sudden counter-rotation of a drive shaft, which stopped the lifeline pay-out during a fall. A drum brake system was used to control the descent further. Modifications to Fertier’s design followed, such as Kikuchi’s portable slow descender in 1989. Kikuchi’s product was designed to help individuals safely evacuate high-rise structures in an emergency by rappelling down a wall.

In 2002, Betcher patented a self-retracting lifeline device with a common central brake hub with teeth and a lifeline assembly on each side. It includes a centrifugal clutch assembly with pawls, which engage the teeth of the brake hub to stop the lifeline in case of sudden acceleration. This action causes the pawls to pivot, engaging the teeth. Modern-day SRL designs commonly utilize an internal pawl and brake hub design.

How SRLs Work

The basic idea of the SRL is similar to the seat belt in your car—it introduces a degree of control into an unpredictable event. The toothed ratcheting mechanism allows the line—typically made of steel, synthetic cable, or some form of webbing, to payout unimpeded in one direction. A sudden downward acceleration, such as a fall, engages the teeth of the braking system, which arrests the descent.

While the lifeline itself is designed to absorb the shock that comes with a fall, most of today’s SRLs provide a smoother stop through the use of a friction control mechanism that limits fall forces to approximately 900 pounds. Additionally, the force of a fall is distributed over a user’s body through the use of a full-body harness that connects the worker to the SRL. The smoother stop and arresting force distribution help prevent additional injury to the user.

How SRLs Compare With Fall Protection Lanyards

Fall Protection Lanyard is an umbrella term that can refer to different types of products that can fit into either the fall restraint or fall arrest category. Fall restraint devices are designed to keep workers safe by limiting the physical area they can access, while fall arrest devices are designed to slow and stop a worker who has fallen. Both fall restraint and fall arrest devices secure the worker to an anchorage point using a lifeline, harness, and connecting device.

Fall protection lanyards are fixed-length lifelines, often made of rope, webbing, or cable, and are generally shorter than SRLs, which can typically payout up to 30 or even 50 feet. Workers who need fall restraint or work-positioning equipment will typically use a fall protection lanyard that is the correct length for their specific application. When designed for fall arrest, they have a built-in shock absorption feature; this type of fall protection lanyard is known as an Energy Absorbing Lanyard (EAL). When used with an appropriate fall protection system, some EALs may be suitable to use for both fall restraint and fall arrest thanks to the fixed-length design and shock-absorbing capability.

On the other hand, SRLs automatically extend and retract as a worker moves, so they can only be used for fall arrest, not fall restraint. SRLs are also longer than other fall protection lanyards, typically capable of paying out up to 30 or even 50 feet, which allows workers to access locations at different heights. The automatically retracting line ensures there is never any slack in the line so the braking system can engage immediately in a fall event. The longer reach of SRLs means it is important for the line to remain directly over the worker to prevent swing falls. While some fall protection lanyards can be used with any sufficient anchorage point, SRLs almost always require engineered fall protection systems that keeps the device directly overhead to provide the maximum safety benefit.

SRL Safety Harness and Other Applications

SRLs are commonly used in industrial settings where workers must perform tasks at height, including transportation, manufacturing and maintenance, steel production, building maintenance and cleaning, and mining. They also fill an essential niche in the entertainment industry, including theater work and movie stunt work.

Workers must use SRLs with a safety support harness connecting to the secure anchorage point. For fall arrest devices like SRLs, workers must wear full-body harnesses to evenly distribute the weight of a fall across the shoulders, thighs, and pelvis.

Full-body harnesses include a fall arrest attachment in the center back that connects to a snap hook, carabiner, or scaffold hook. They might also have additional D-rings work-positioning or for securing tools or other objects. These D-rings can accommodate harness accessories like carabiners and tool lanyards to keep equipment from falling on people below.

All full-body harnesses must meet specific requirements from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) as well as legal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards. D-rings, carabiners, and snap hooks also have to be able to stand a 5,000-pound tensile load, and they must withstand 3,600 pounds without experiencing any damage. Generally, standards from ANSI and ASSP are stricter and more specific than OSHA guidelines, as ANSI and ASSP are safety professional societies while OSHA is part of the U.S. government.

Rely on Rigid Lifelines for Reliable SRLs

Workers in the construction, manufacturing, or entertainment industries might have to work from high up. Protect employees with personal fall arrest systems like self-retracting lifelines. For more than 20 years, Rigid Lifelines has improved worker safety with our dependable fall prevention systems that meet OSHA and ANSI regulations. Contact Rigid Lifelines today to discover how our personal fall arrest systems can work for you!