1915.151(a) Scope and application. This subpart applies to all work in shipyard employment regardless of geographic
location.
1915.151(b) Definitions applicable to this subpart.
"Anchorage" means a secure point of attachment for lifelines, lanyards, or deceleration devices.
"Body belt" means a strap with means for both securing it about the waist and attaching it to a lanyard, lifeline, or deceleration
device.
"Body harness" means straps which may be secured about the employee in a manner that will distribute the fall arrest forces over at least
the thighs, shoulders, chest and pelvis with means for attaching it to other components of a personal fall arrest system.
"Connector" means a device which is used to couple (connect) parts of a personal fall arrest system or parts of a positioning device
system together. It may be an independent component of the system, such as a carabiner, or it may be an integral component of part of the system (such
as a buckle or D-ring sewn into a body belt or body harness or a snaphook spliced or sewn to a lanyard or self-retracting lanyard).
"Deceleration device" means any mechanism, such as a rope grab, ripstitch lanyard, specially woven lanyard, tearing or deforming lanyard,
or automatic self-retracting lifeline/lanyard, which serves to dissipate a substantial amount of energy during a fall arrest, or otherwise limit the
energy imposed on an employee during fall arrest.
"Deceleration distance" means the additional vertical distance a falling employee travels, excluding lifeline elongation and free fall
distance, before stopping, from the point at which the deceleration device begins to operate. It is measured as the distance between the location of
an employee's body belt or body harness attachment point at the moment of activation (at the onset of fall arrest forces) of the deceleration device
during a fall, and the location of that attachment point after the employee comes to a full stop.
"Equivalent" means alternative designs, materials, or methods to protect against a hazard which the employer can demonstrate will provide
an equal or greater degree of safety for employees than the method or item specified in the standard.
"Free fall" means the act of falling before a personal fall arrest system begins to apply force to arrest the fall.
"Free fall distance" means the vertical displacement of the fall arrest attachment point on the employee's body belt or body harness
between onset of the fall and just before the system begins to apply force to arrest the fall. This distance excludes deceleration distance, and
lifeline/lanyard elongation, but includes any deceleration device slide distance or self-retracting lifeline/lanyard extension before the device
operates and fall arrest forces occur.
"Lanyard" means a flexible line of rope, wire rope, or strap which generally has a connector at each end for connecting the body belt or
body harness to a deceleration device, lifeline, or anchorage.
"Lifeline" means a component consisting of a flexible line for connection to an anchorage at one end to hang vertically (vertical
lifeline), or for connection to anchorages at both ends to stretch horizontally (horizontal lifeline), and which serves as a means for connecting
other components of a personal fall arrest system to the anchorage.
"Lower levels" means those areas or surfaces to which an employee can fall. Such areas or surfaces include but are not limited to ground
levels, floors, ramps, tanks, materials, water, excavations, pits, vessels, structures, or portions thereof.
"Personal fall arrest system" means a system used to arrest an employee in a fall from a working level. It consists of an anchorage,
connectors, body belt or body harness and may include a lanyard, a deceleration device, a lifeline, or a suitable combination of these. As of January
1, 1998, the use of a body belt for fall arrest is prohibited.
"Positioning device system" means a body belt or body harness system rigged to allow an employee to be supported at an elevated vertical
surface, such as a wall or window, and to be able to work with both hands free while leaning.
"Qualified person" means a person who by possession of a recognized degree or certificate of professional standing, or who, by extensive
knowledge, training, and experience, has successfully demonstrated the ability to solve or resolve problems related to the subject matter and
work.
"Restraint (tether) line" means a line from an anchorage, or between anchorages, to which the employee is secured in such a way as to
prevent the employee from walking or falling off an elevated work surface. Note: A restraint line is not necessarily designed to withstand forces
resulting from a fall.
"Rope grab" means a deceleration device which travels on a lifeline and automatically, by friction, engages the lifeline and locks so as
to arrest the fall of an employee. A rope grab usually employs the principle of inertial locking, cam/level locking or both.
[61 FR 26321, May 24, 1996]
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