What is ANSI, and How Does it Affect Fall Protection?

The American National Standards Institute, or ANSI, is an independent, non-profit agency that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for various industries. The agency works to ensure consistency and safety, as well as to assure worldwide acceptance of common standards, applicability, and terminology. ANSI also accredits standards developed by certifying agencies, private industry, government agencies, and others.

History
ANSI traces its roots to 1916, when the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) invited the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers (AIME) and the American Society for Testing Materials (now ASTM International) to join in establishing an impartial national body to coordinate standards development, approve national consensus standards, and halt user confusion on acceptability. These five organizations, core members of the United Engineering Society (UES), invited the U.S. Departments of War, Navy and Commerce to join them as founders. ANSI’s original name was the American Engineering Standards Committee (AESC). The current designation was adopted in 1969. You can visit the ANSI website here http://www.ansi.org.

Process
ANSI itself does not develop standards, but rather works with those who do to assure consistency. To earn ANSI accreditation, an industry standard must pass a rigorous set of criteria and meet the institute’s standards for openness, balance, consensus, and due process. The basic features of the accreditation process are: consensus, broad-based public support, review, and appeal.

Fall Protection and ANSI Z359
In the world of fall protection, “Z359” refers to the portion of ANSI standards established for fall protection systems and their components. The complete fall protection standards package includes:

• Definitions and Nomenclature Used for Fall Protection and Fall Arrest
• Safety Requirements for Personal Fall Arrest Systems, Subsystems and Components
• Minimum Requirements for a Comprehensive Managed Fall Protection Program
• Safety Requirements for Positioning and Travel Restraint Systems
• Safety Requirements for Assisted-Rescue and Self-Rescue Systems, Subsystems and Components
• Specifications and Design Requirements for Active Fall Protection Systems
• Connecting Components for Personal Fall Arrest System
• Personal Energy Absorbers and Energy Absorbing Lanyards, and
• Historical Documentation

ANSI standards touch upon every aspect of fall protection, from basic terminology, to safety requirements and design for all systems, subsystems, and components. Such detailed coverage ensures that all working in the industry, manufacturers and users alike, use the same set of terms when referring to components of a fall protection system. It also sets clear minimum requirements for safe and proper use of fall protection systems, subsystems, and individual components. Having a global industry standard not only improves communication and product compatibility, it also promotes safe and proper use of fall protection equipment.

Thanks for reading!

Michael Evanko
Marketing Manager