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My safety guy swore by orange whips, turns out he was right about the buckle point
Three months ago he made me swap my harness lanyards on a mid-rise in Denver, and after a near miss with a dropped beam that thumped the line hard, I finally get why the energy absorber matters, anyone else ever second-guess their safety rep and eat crow later?
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the_evan1mo ago
The "energy absorber matters" part is doing a lot of work here, and I'd pump the brakes on that. A dropped beam thumping a line tells you the line got shock loaded, sure, but it doesn't prove the absorber saved you. Those things are designed for fall arrest, not for random impact from above, and a lot of them will deploy on you from a hard jerk and then you're running on a spent lanyard the rest of the shift. I've seen guys take a small swing, look down, and their pack is blown out, which is its own problem. The real lesson from your story sounds more like the tie-off point and keeping the line clear of overhead work, not the buckle gadget. Your safety guy might've been right for the wrong reason, and next time that spent absorber could be what drops you.
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