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Your  harness is a pillar of your fall protection equipment. Picking the right one depends on the type of work you do, how often you do it, and what your budget can afford. Here are our picks for the best harnesses for tower climbers looking at cost, comfort, adjustment, and weight. The king of the tower climbing harnesses is still the DBI-SALA ExoFit NEX for Tower Climbing. This very comfortable tower harness has a spring-loaded dorsal D-ring and a range of other smart adjust …

If you're working in site maintenance, oil and gas production, or other large facilities, you likely have loads of fall protection equipment that requires periodic inspection by a competent person. OSHA sets requirements for regular inspection, and defines the type of person who can sign off on these reviews. A Competent Person in the eyes of all-mighty OSHA is simply someone who can identify the hazards of their workplace environment and who has the authorization to take immediate measure …

D-ring extensions allow easier access to the dorsal D-ring without having to go through the yoga contortions sometimes required to hook up your fall protection, but these extensions are not for every situation and must be used with care. Adding extra length to fall protection can result in additional swing forces acted upon the climber in the event of a fall. That makes intuitive sense. You're making the pendulum longer, so the swing could be wider. Using an extender may be allowed with lanya …

Nearly every type of industrial site has confined spaces - manholes with plumbing, or sheds that house pumps or generators.  These are areas where the atmosphere may become toxic or oxygen-depleted and unsafe for entry.  If you or your crew don't do much work in these areas you may not be aware of the dangers or the regulations surrounding them. Here are a few things that you will need if you are preparing to enter a confined space.  They are all important, most of th …

Just after you have ordered your fall protection equipment (hopefully from pksafety.com) is the perfect time to update your rescue plan.   What?  You don’t have a rescue plan?  Well, you are not alone.  Many conscientious companies provide equipment and training for the PPE issued on site, but fail to see the scenarios through.  What happens to your workers after a fall occurs? The danger of suspension trauma – where blood flow is cut off by harness stra …

This past spring OSHA updated their safety regulations for electrical power generation, transmission, and distribution. The compliance deadline for most of these new rules as they relate to fall protection is April 1st, 2015. If your workers operate or maintain electrical service and are working at height, they are likely affected by these updates. There are two main fall protection rules that are either new or changed. Foremost is the arc flash requirement. Fall arrest equipment has an …

Gravity is a harsh mistress. In a confined space, she truly plays for keeps. Petzl, a French company started by cave explorers and mountain climbers, understands the dangers of confined space jobs better than anyone else in the industry. Pksafety.com is excited to be the first company in the US to offer Petzl products solely with confined space worksites in mind. Our experts have put together kits that meet the unique safety demands of confined spaces and take the guesswork out of starin …

At PK Safety we've focused mainly on workers operating at height. We offer climbing safety products like harnesses and fall protection, and we've been doing that for years. But there are plenty of situations that only require a portable ladder to reach the job. We've found Telesteps telescoping ladders to be the best solution for traditional ladder work, and they come with some very definite advantages. In the past to reach a light bulb in the middle of a warehouse or other open …

Fall protection equipment needs to be regularly inspected by a Competent Person according the specifications set forth in the ANSI Z359 protection codes if you want your Z359-rated equipment to be considered usable. Inspection is critical for all fall protection safety equipment, whether you intend to meet the highest standards in the country or not. To do this effectively, it's important to have a consistent process for the inspection. For each piece of equipment you have in your inventory, …

Can I Attach a Self-Retracting Lifeline to a Lanyard? No! This question lands on our virtual doorstep more frequently than we’d like. It's easy to understand why people ask: you have a Self-Retracting Lifeline (SRL) and it almost reaches the user or you just need a little more room to stretch to the side, so you want to use a connector – and what do you have plenty of? Lanyards! It’s an easy solution to talk yourself into. But when you consider the components that make both devices w …