What this is
What is a fall arrest equipment inspection?
What is a fall arrest equipment inspection?
A fall arrest equipment inspection is a check of a harness, lanyard, energy absorber and connectors against a fixed set of failure modes: cut or abraded webbing, broken stitching, chemical or heat damage, a distorted buckle or D-ring, a deployed absorber, an illegible label, and a service life that has run out. It is done by the wearer before each use and repeated formally, with a record, every six months by a competent person.
Who is a competent person for this inspection?
Someone trained to recognise the specific failure modes of fall arrest hardware and textiles, distinct from the wearer's own pre-use check. The formal inspection is theirs to sign, and the record should show who they were, not just that an inspection occurred.
What happens to equipment that fails?
It is destroyed, not returned to store. A failed harness left in a bin or a van locker eventually gets picked up and worn, because nothing about its appearance from a distance says it failed. The destruction is witnessed and recorded so the item cannot re-enter circulation by mistake.
Scope
When is a fall arrest equipment inspection required?
This inspection covers personal fall arrest equipment specifically: harnesses, lanyards, energy absorbers and their connectors. It is not a general PPE check and not a substitute for the anchorage or system-level assessment that goes with it.
Use this template when
- Before every use, as the wearer's own pre-use check
- On the stated formal cycle, typically six-monthly, by a named competent person
- After any fall-arrest event, impact loading, or reported drop, regardless of the routine cycle
- Before an item is reissued from storage after a period out of service
- When a new harness, lanyard or connector enters service, to establish its date of first use
Do not use it for
- General Workplace Inspection, which walks an area for common hazards rather than examining specific fall arrest hardware
- PPE Compliance Inspection, which checks that protective equipment generally is available, worn and in good condition, not the detailed component checks this template applies
- Ladder Inspection, which is a separate access equipment check
- Lifting Gear Inspection, which covers rigging and load-bearing hardware, not personal fall arrest textiles and connectors
- Anchorage and system-level assessment, which sits alongside this inspection rather than inside it
Compliance mapping
Which OSHA 1910.140 requirements does this satisfy?
OSHA sets the performance and inspection duty for fall arrest systems directly, while the CSA standards define the design and periodic-inspection detail for the hardware and textiles those duties apply to.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| OSHA 1910.140(b) | Defines competent person and the roles responsible for formal inspection and removal decisions | Header |
| OSHA 1910.140(c) | General requirements for personal fall protection, including inspection for damage before each use | Equipment |
| OSHA 1910.140(c) | Equipment subjected to impact loading in a fall-arrest event must be removed from service | Equipment |
| OSHA 1910.140(d) | Performance and component criteria for personal fall arrest system parts: webbing, D-rings, connectors, energy absorbers | Equipment |
| CSA Z259 | Design, marking and periodic-inspection requirements for full body harnesses, lanyards and connecting hardware | Equipment |
| OSHA 1910.140(c) | Defective equipment removed from service must not be returned to use | Result |
| Standard-specific | Findings and corrective actions arising from inspection are recorded and tracked to closure | Result |
What it does not cover
- General Workplace Inspection, which does not examine fall arrest hardware to its specific failure modes.
- PPE Compliance Inspection, which checks availability and general condition, not webbing, stitching and connector detail.
- Ladder Inspection, which is a distinct access-equipment check with its own failure modes.
- Lifting Gear Inspection, which addresses rigging and load-bearing hardware rather than personal fall arrest components.
- Manufacturer recertification or proof-load testing, which is a factory-level process outside what a site inspection can perform.
Global
Fall Arrest Equipment Inspection requirements by country
The duty to inspect fall arrest equipment sits in general workplace safety law almost everywhere, but the standards that define what a competent inspection actually checks come from the equipment standards named in the template's basis.
OSHA 1910.140
Requires inspection of personal fall protection equipment for damage before each use, and removal from service of equipment subjected to impact loading.
The inspection duty and the removal criteria are federal law where 1910.140 applies, not guidance.
CSA Z259 series, referenced into provincial OHS regulations
Sets the design, marking and periodic-inspection requirements for harnesses, lanyards and connectors that provincial regulators point to.
A consensus standard becomes enforceable the moment a province's regulation cites it, which most fall-protection regulations do.
Work at Height Regulations 2005
Requires equipment used for work at height, including fall arrest equipment, to be inspected at suitable intervals and after events liable to affect its safety.
An event-triggered inspection is a named legal requirement here, not just good practice, which is why an impact-loaded item must trigger a review regardless of the routine cycle.
How to complete it
How to complete a fall arrest equipment inspection, step by step
The checklist itself is short and mechanical. The judgement that makes an inspection defensible sits in three or four decisions the form cannot make for the inspector.
An item that has arrested a fall is withdrawn permanently, full stop, regardless of how the rest of the checklist reads. Webbing and energy absorbers can take a load and still look intact, so a pass on webbing, stitching and buckles after an arrest event is not evidence the item is safe; it is evidence the visual check cannot see what matters here.
A manufacturer's stated service life runs from when the item entered service, not when it was made, and time in service is what drives webbing degradation through UV, handling and chemical exposure. An item nearing the end of its life on paper should fail on that basis even if every visual check otherwise passes.
A result of fail is not a closed finding until the item has been destroyed and that destruction witnessed. Recording the fail and leaving the item where it was found solves nothing; the next person to grab a harness in a hurry will use whatever is there.
The wearer's pre-use check is fast and informal by design, and the six-monthly formal inspection by a competent person is a different, documented event. Logging a quick pre-use look as the formal inspection produces a record that looks complete and is not.
What auditors find
Most common fall arrest equipment inspection findings
Because the checklist is well defined, most findings are not about a missed defect but about how the result was handled once found.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Item known to have arrested a fall is returned to service after a routine pass on the checklist. | OSHA 1910.140(c) | Add hard-stop logic: a fail on the fall-arrest-event question forces the overall result to fail and blocks reissue, independent of other item scores. |
| Result recorded as fail, but destruction not evidenced or witnessed. | Standard-specific | Make destruction witness a required field whenever the result is fail, not an optional one. |
| Formal six-monthly inspection logged under a pre-use inspection type, with no competent person recorded. | OSHA 1910.140(b) | Require the competent person field whenever the inspection type is the formal periodic check. |
| Service life assessed from manufacture date rather than date of first use. | CSA Z259 | Calculate remaining service life from the date-of-first-use field, and flag items approaching the limit before they fail outright. |
| Photo evidence not attached for items recorded as fail, despite the form calling for it. | Standard-specific | Enforce the photo upload as mandatory whenever the result is fail, not conditional on the inspector remembering. |
| Action raised against a fail with no owner or date, or closed without confirming destruction took place. | Standard-specific | Assign owner and date when the action is raised, and require destruction confirmation before the action can close. |
Case in point
Case in point: the harness that passed and shouldn't have
A maintenance crew reported that a harness had been used to arrest a short fall during a near miss two months earlier, and that the wearer was uninjured. No formal note was made at the time because nothing about the incident felt serious enough to report, and the harness went back into the general pool.
It surfaced four months later at its scheduled six-monthly inspection. It passed every checklist item: webbing intact, stitching sound, buckles and D-rings undamaged, energy absorber showing no visible deployment, labels legible. It was only when the inspector cross-checked recent incident notes against the asset ID that the earlier fall-arrest event came to light, and the item was withdrawn and destroyed on that basis rather than on anything the checklist itself had found.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
3 sections
- Reference
- SAF-026
- Archetype
- Inspection
- Record ID
- INSP-2026-000
- Scoring
- Pass or fail per item
- Direction
- High is good
- Singleton
- No
- Basis
- OSHA 1910.140, CSA Z259
- Links
- Links Asset; feeds CAPA
- Tags
- Inspection, Height
- Sections
- 3
- Fields
- 41
- Follow up fields
- 6
- Repeating sections
- 1
- Links out
- 3
Header
9 fieldsInspection ID*
Auto sequence. Format INSP-2026-00000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Date and Time*
Inspection Type*
Scheduled, unscheduled, follow up or post incident.
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
Destroy, Do Not Return
Fall protection that fails inspection is destroyed, not returned to store. Record the destruction, because a failed harness back on the shelf will eventually be used.
Inspection Type 2*
Pre-use by the user, or formal six monthly by a competent person.
Competent Person
Equipment
Repeats17 fieldsItem*
Asset ID*
Format AST-0000.
Links to FDN-002 Asset ID
Item Type*
Serial Number
Date Of First Use
Webbing Free Of Cuts And Abrasion*
- Pass2 pts
- Partial1 pt
- Fail0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Stitching Intact*
- Pass2 pts
- Partial1 pt
- Fail0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
No Chemical Or Heat Damage*
- Pass2 pts
- Partial1 pt
- Fail0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Buckles And D Rings Sound*
- Pass2 pts
- Partial1 pt
- Fail0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Energy Absorber Not Deployed*
- Pass2 pts
- Partial1 pt
- Fail0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Labels Legible*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Within Manufacturer Service Life*
- Pass2 pts
- Partial1 pt
- Fail0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Subject To A Fall Arrest Event*
Any item that has arrested a fall is withdrawn permanently.
- Pass2 pts
- Partial1 pt
- Fail0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Result*
- Pass3 pts
- Pass with conditions2 pts
- Fail0 pts
Photo
Destroyed
- Yes2 pts
- No, still in service0 pts
Destruction Witnessed By
Result
15 fieldsItems Assessed*
Excludes anything marked N/A.
Items Failed*
Score Percent*
Calculated on submission. High is good. N/A items leave the denominator.
Result Band*
- Pass3 pts
- Caution1 pt
- Fail0 pts
Completeness Percent*
How much of the template was actually answered. A high score on a half completed form is not a high score.
Findings Raised
Highest Severity Found
- Observation3 pts
- Minor2 pts
- Major0 pts
Action Required*
Raise the action record, then enter its reference here.
- No2 pts
- Yes0 pts
Priority
- High0 pts
- Medium1 pt
- Low3 pts
CAPA ID
Format CAPA-2026-00000.
Links to FDN-014 CAPA ID
Action Owner
Next Inspection Due
Notes
Inspected By*
Signature*
SAF-026 · record IDs look like INSP-2026-000 · Links Asset; feeds CAPA
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The checklist is straightforward. What actually gets missed is the cross-reference: an incident note that never reached the inspection record, or an item nearing its service life that nobody flagged before the next cycle.
Holds the fall arrest equipment register against inspection due dates and incident records, and flags any item involved in a reported fall-arrest event even if it has not yet reached its scheduled inspection.
Cross-checks incident and near-miss records against the asset register so a fall-arrest event surfaces at the equipment's next inspection instead of depending on someone remembering to report it.
Tracks who is certified as a competent person for this inspection, so the formal six-monthly check is never logged against someone without the training behind it.
This template lives in KnowSafe — safety and compliance. Incidents, hazards, permits, inspections and the critical controls behind them.
Meet KnowSafe→Glossary
Fall Arrest Equipment Inspection definitions and key terms
- Competent person
- Someone trained to recognise the specific failure modes of fall arrest hardware, responsible for the formal periodic inspection and the removal decision.
- Fall-arrest event
- An occasion on which the equipment has actually arrested a fall or taken an impact load, after which the item is withdrawn permanently regardless of its visual condition.
- Energy absorber
- The component in a lanyard or system that deploys to limit arrest forces on the body; once deployed, or suspected of deploying, the item is withdrawn.
- Service life
- The period an item may remain in use, measured from its date of first use rather than its date of manufacture, after which it is withdrawn regardless of condition.
- D-ring
- The load-bearing connection point on a harness, checked for distortion, cracking or corrosion as part of the equipment inspection.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about fall arrest equipment inspection
How is a fall arrest equipment inspection different from a pre-use check?+
The pre-use check is a quick look by the wearer every time the kit goes on, aimed at catching an obvious defect before it is worn. The formal inspection is a documented, competent-person examination on a fixed cycle, typically six-monthly, and the two should never be recorded as the same event.
Does an item that arrested a fall have to be destroyed even if it looks fine?+
Yes. Webbing and energy absorbers can take a fall-arrest load without visible damage, and the checklist cannot see what a hidden internal change might be. The rule is that any item known to have arrested a fall is permanently withdrawn, regardless of what the visual inspection otherwise shows.
Why is service life measured from date of first use rather than manufacture date?+
Degradation in webbing and stitching comes from time in service, exposure to UV and chemicals, and handling, not from time sitting unused in a store. Manufacturer service life figures are set against the date the item started being used for exactly this reason.
What counts as destroying a failed item properly?+
Rendering it unusable, typically by cutting the webbing, and having that destruction witnessed and recorded against the asset ID. A fail result on the form with the physical item still intact somewhere is not a closed finding.
Can one component failing be offset by the rest of the item passing?+
No. The result for the item is a knockout on any single failed component, not an average across the checklist. A harness with sound webbing and a cracked D-ring is a fail, not a partial pass.
Who can carry out the formal six-monthly inspection?+
A competent person, meaning someone specifically trained to recognise the failure modes of fall arrest hardware and textiles, distinct from general safety training and distinct from the wearer's own competence to do their job.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Workplace Inspection
Audit Finding Record
Records a single audit finding with its evidence, clause reference and classification
Finding
Records a single deficiency picked up during an audit, inspection or check
General Workplace Inspection
A broad walk through of an area covering the common hazards
Housekeeping Inspection
Checks that walkways, work areas and storage are clear, clean and in order
PPE Compliance Inspection
Checks that the right protective equipment is available, in good condition and being worn
Electrical Safety Inspection
Checks panels, cords, outlets and portable equipment for damage and safe access
More in Safety Inspections
General Workplace Inspection
A broad walk through of an area covering the common hazards
Housekeeping Inspection
Checks that walkways, work areas and storage are clear, clean and in order
PPE Compliance Inspection
Checks that the right protective equipment is available, in good condition and being worn
Electrical Safety Inspection
Checks panels, cords, outlets and portable equipment for damage and safe access
Ladder Inspection
Checks each ladder for damage, missing feet, loose rungs and correct labelling
Machine Guarding Inspection
Checks that guards are fitted, secure and effective, and that interlocks work
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- OSHA 1910.140 — Personal fall protection systems
- CSA Z259 series — Fall protection equipment
- Work at Height Regulations 2005 (UK) — inspection and reporting requirements
- CSA — Canadian Standards Association
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.