Calculate camber heights with your smartphone

APProtect correctly at the top

SpanSet is the first supplier of personal protective equipment against falls from a height to develop a fall height calculator app. It benefits the worker as well as his boss. One checks whether the precautions are sufficient for his own safety. The other documents his risk assessment. The free offer applies exclusively to the SpanSet SP140 and DSL2 fasteners.

The same question every day on the scaffold, in the high rack or in another exposed position: Is the personal protective equipment against falls from a height (PPEgA) selected and fastened in such a way that it will safely catch the user in the event of a fall? To determine the height of the fall - that is, the distance required below the anchor point - a number of parameters must be put into perspective: Position of the anchor point, length of the lanyard, weight of the user, length of the free fall and finally the rupture of the shock absorber. You can do the addition without a math degree - but it's still not an easy task between a rotating concrete mixer and a screeching flex. 

Is the fall height sufficient for safe arrest? 

Users of the SpanSet SP140 and DSL2 fasteners now have a smart aid at their fingertips. For all variants, the company from Übach-Palenberg has put an app for calculating the fall height on the web. And it works very simply.

The app provides information on whether the fall height is sufficient for a wide range of application scenarios. To do this, you click on the lanyard you are using, define the work situation with just a few taps of your finger, and let the app calculate whether the person will be safely caught in the event of a fall. The program uses a data set that SpanSet has collected and verified in elaborate test series. 

The fitter or worker can easily perform the calculation using their smartphone and then know how effective their protective equipment is. This information on the display alone can save lives. "Nothing is worse than when someone doesn't even put on the PPEgA because they wrongly assume that lanyards and energy absorbers won't protect them from an impact anyway," warns Jörg Scheilen, Head of Height Safety Technology at SpanSet. The application engineer thus addresses a sore point in any height safety concept: the unwillingness of employees to actively participate. Scheilen observes dangerous negligence in practice time and again. The new app reveals in just a few seconds how well the PPEgA ensures safety. This motivates employees to actually put on the unloved equipment.

Documenting risk assessments by e-mail
The fall height calculator app also provides valuable support for foremen, site managers and other responsible persons, sometimes with relevance to labor law. They can literally hold the result of their risk assessment under the nose of the individual worker and either approve the specific situation or demand changes - such as the selection of a different anchor point. In addition, the SpanSet app offers a documentation function that should not be underestimated. One can send the results of the calculation to oneself or to another recipient by e-mail. "That way, you still know later how you assessed individual hazardous situations," says Scheilen. 

The app is available for Android and Apple in 14 languages for free download from the Google Play Store and the App Store. More information at www.spanset.com.

[Additional information]

SpanSet lanyard SP140
The SP140 lanyard meets the EN 355 standard for users weighing up to 140 kilograms. A specially developed shock absorber ensures that the lanyard only extends by the maximum permissible 1.75 meters at 140 kg, not already at 100 kg.

SpanSet DSL2 lanyard

The DSL2 lanyard combines the advantages of a retractable type fall arrester and a lanyard with a strap-type energy absorber. It is two meters long and retracts the excess webbing during installation. In the event of a fall, the webbing is locked in place like a car safety harness, shortening the fall distance.