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21.1
In this Part, “arborist” means a person trained and employed, in whole or in part, to climb trees for an economic or scientific purpose, including any of the following:
(i) detecting and treating disease, infections or infestations,
(ii) pruning, spraying or trimming,
(iii) repairing damaged trees,
(iv) assessing growth or harvesting potential;
“body belt” means a body support device that encircles the body at or about the waist;
“energy absorber” means a component of a fall-protection system consisting of a device that dissipates kinetic energy and does not return it to the fall-arrest system or into a person’s body;
“fall distance” means the vertical distance a person may fall, measured from the surface where the weight of a person is supported to the surface the person could fall onto;
“fall-arrest system” means a fall-protection system consisting of an assembly of components that arrests a person’s fall when properly assembled, used together and connected to a suitable anchorage;
“fall-protection system” means any secondary system that is intended to prevent a person from falling or arrests a fall that occurs, and includes guardrails, temporary flooring, travel-restraint systems, personnel safety nets and fall-arrest systems;
“full-body harness” means a body-holding device, similar to a parachute harness, that transfers suspension forces or impacts during a fall arrest to a person’s pelvis or skeleton;
“guardrail” means a fall-protection system consisting of vertical and horizontal members that
(i) are capable of withstanding concentrated forces, as prescribed in these regulations or an applicable standard,
(ii) warn of a fall hazard, and
(iii) reduce the risk of a fall;
“horizontal lifeline” means a flexible line made from wire, fibre rope, wire rope, or rod, with end terminations at both ends, that extends horizontally from one end anchorage to another;
“lanyard” means a flexible line or strap used to secure a full-body harness to an energy absorber, fall-arrester, lifeline or anchorage;
“lifeline” means a component of a fall-protection system consisting of a vertical lifeline or a horizontal lifeline;
“personnel safety net” means a fall-protection system that uses at least 1 net to stop a person who is falling before the person makes contact with a lower level or obstruction;
“elevating work-platform” means a mobile horizontal working surface that provides access and support to a person at a workplace, and that is elevated and lowered by means of a mechanism that complies with Part 23: Scaffolds and Other Elevated Work-platforms;
“safe surface” means an area that meets all of the following criteria:
(i) it is large enough and strong enough to adequately support a person who falls,
(ii) it is level enough to prevent a further fall by a person who has fallen,
“self-retracting device” means a device that arrests a person’s fall by performing a tethering function while allowing vertical movement below the device to the maximum working length of the device;
“temporary flooring” means a fall-protection system consisting of a horizontal working surface that is designed, constructed and installed to provide access to areas that do not have permanent flooring by protecting a person from falling through an unprotected opening;
“travel restraint system” means a fall-protection system that will prevent a person from reaching an unprotected edge or opening;
“vertical lifeline” means a flexible lifeline with an end termination on the top end that is connected to an anchorage or anchorage connector and hangs vertically from where it is connected;
“work-platform” means a raised temporary horizontal working surface that provides access and support to a person at a workplace;
“work-positioning system” means an assembly of components that, when properly assembled and used together, supports a person in a position or location so that the person’s hands are free in the work position, but does not include a boatswain’s chair, ladder, rope access or scaffold.
21.5
(1) An employer must ensure that a guardrail that is used as a means of fall protection is installed at all of the following places in a work area:
(a) around any uncovered opening in any surface;
(b) at the perimeter or other open side of a work area.
(2) A guardrail must be designed and installed in compliance with the CSA standard CSA Z797:18 (R2023), “Code of practice for access scaffold”.
(3) If there is a risk of falling at a doorway or the opening of a building floor, roof, walls or shaft, an employer must ensure that a guardrail is
(a) installed in accordance with this Section; and
(b) marked with a warning sign that indicates the presence of a doorway or other opening.
21.15
An employer must ensure that all anchorages used as components of a fall-protection system are capable of withstanding the following forces in any direction in which the force may be applied:
(a) 22 kN, for non-engineered anchorage;
(b) 2 times the maximum arresting force anticipated, for an engineered anchorage.
21.16
(1)An employer must ensure that a horizontal lifeline used as a component of a fall-protection system meets all of the following:
(a) it is designed and installed in compliance with the latest version of CSA standard CSA Z259.16, “Design of Active Fall-Protection Systems;
(b) it is used, certified and made of material in compliance with the latest version of CSA standard CSA Z259.13, “Flexible Horizontal Lifeline Systems”.
(2) An employer must ensure that a vertical lifeline used as a component of a fall-protection system is used and certified in accordance with the latest version of CSA standard CSA Z259.2.1, “Fall Arresters, Vertical Lifelines and Rails”.