The anchoring systems in the work position and the prevention of high falls are regulated by the standard UNE EN 358. These are anchoring systems, which means they have to support the worker at heights and prevent him from falling, not stop a possible fall.

In order to prevent high falls of people one has to act in the following order:

Avoid the fall: eliminating risks, by the conception and organization of the work (integrated safety) or failing this avoiding the falls by collective protection.

Limit the fall: resorting to the fitting of safety nets when it is no possible to avoid the fall.

Protect individually: when it is not possible to use collective protection as a complementary measure (anti fall devices, anti fall systems, anchoring systems).

Collective system, a priority

For the standards of Occupational Risk Prevention (ORP), collective systems such as handrails are a priority. However, there are others as safe as those if the protection has to be individual. These systems must fulfill the most demanding standards regarding the resistance to the impact of the fall, its’ reduction to it and the composition of the system.

The anti fall systems have to be just another component of the work elements of any that may entail an incident with risk of falling into the void. For this, one has to insist especially on the choice of quality products to protect the workers in these situations.