Well, on evaluate your life day (today), we thought it would be a good idea to teach you how to make a salami sandwich and inspect your lanyards before use. After much soul-searching we decided to drop the lanyard portion of this training... I mean the salami sandwich portion. We dropped the salami sandwich part. Now, let's learn the basics of inspecting a fall protection lanyard. Shall we?
Hardware - Inspect the hardware for distortions, cracks, corrosion, or pitted surfaces. Also, make sure that your snap hooks close properly and firmly. You don't want one of these guys opening up in a fall.
Wire Rope Lanyards - Make sure there are no cuts, frays, or unusually worn parts of the wire rope. What starts as a simple fray can turn into a tangled mess, and definitely something you shouldn't be falling off the roof with.
Web Lanyards - Press the webbing together to make an inverted "U" shape and check for tears and frays as well as indications of stitching damage or chemical damage. (Wait until you see our entire post devoted to chemical damage and webbing!)
Rope Lanyards - Twist the rope through your fingers and be on the lookout for fraying fibers, and inconsistency in the rope's thickness. It should be the same thickness all the way through. A thinner portion of rope may be a sign of weakness, and you wouldn't want to test that in a fall.
Shock Packs - This thing should be intact. No more no less. Check for burns or holes. Also, any fraying that may be coming out of the ends... Not so good.
Shock Lanyards - If you have a shock absorbing lanyard that is sewn into the webbing, use the standard web inspections. BUT make sure that the warning flag is not visible, and that there are no signs of deployment. A lanyard used in a fall is worthless. Get rid of it.
Those, are the basics. Have any other ideas or pointers? Let us know in the comments section.
