The importance of fall arrest can be described as the form of fall protection which involves the safe stopping of a person already falling. It is one of several forms of fall protection. Such a system should include 5 elements referred to as ABCDs of Fall Arrest:

A – Anchorage – a fixed structure or structural adaptation, often including an anchorage connector, to which the other components of the PFAS are rigged.

B – Body Wear – a full body harness worn by the worker.

C – Connector – a subsystem component connecting the harness to the anchorage – such as a lanyard.

D – Deceleration Device – an essential subsystem component designed to dissipate the forces associated with a fall arrest event.

E – Emergency Plan & Equipment – a clear and simple approach to rescue of a suspended worker following a fall arrest event. All workers should be familiar with the site – specific plan and competent to implement it. If a suspended worker is not recovered in good time, they may suffer the potentially serious effects of “suspension trauma”. These systems are put into place as a measure to reduce the impact of a person’s fall if this occurs, preventing them from a life-threatening accident at a lower level or the ground. The fall arrest system will also allow the person to affect a self-rescue or be rescued

A Fall Protection system should always be chosen, where possible, over a fall arrest system as it is better to prevent the fall rather than to limit the damage of a fall