Competent Person Responsibilities
This person has the authority to identify hazards and stop work when fall hazards are present.
Who is a Competent Person?
This equipment must be inspected before each use.
What is a full-body harness?
These four items should never be used as anchors.
What are pipes, conduit, light fixtures, and guardrails?
This distance is measured from the walking-working surface to the next lower level and determines whether a fall arrest system can be safely used.
What is fall clearance?
This device is commonly installed above a permit-required confined space to raise and lower entrants and facilitate rescue.
What is a tripod and retrieval winch system?
A Competent Person must perform this before workers begin elevated work.
What is a hazard assessment?
A shock-absorbing lanyard with a deployed tear pack should be placed here.
Where is "Out of Service"?
This hazard often looks solid from a distance but can fail when stepped on, causing a worker to fall through a roof.
What is a skylight?
A shock-absorbing lanyard is designed to do this during a fall.
What is deploy and absorb energy to reduce arrest forces?
An entrant falls into a confined space and is hanging from their harness. Simply calling 911 is not considered this.
What is a rescue plan?
A Competent Person must have the authority to do this when unsafe conditions exist.
What is "Stop the Job"?
Missing labels on a harness create this problem.
What is the inability to verify manufacturer requirements?
A worker tied off to an anchor point located far to the side of their work area is exposed to this hazard if they fall.
What is a swing fall?
When calculating total fall clearance, a competent person must account for free-fall distance, deceleration distance, worker height, and this additional factor.
What is a safety factor (or safety margin)?
This condition can occur when a worker remains suspended in a harness after a fall and blood circulation becomes restricted.
What is suspension trauma?
This document outlines how a fallen worker will be rescued.
What is a Rescue Plan?
This evidence on webbing indicates possible heat damage.
What is glazing or melted fibers?
This type of anchorage is approved by a Qualified Person or Professional Engineer.
What is a Certified Anchorage?
A worker is using a 6-foot shock-absorbing lanyard. During a fall, the worker falls 6 feet before the lanyard begins to deploy. This first 6 feet is called what?
What is the free-fall distance?
Before entry begins, the competent person should identify hazards, rescue methods, equipment requirements, and assign these individuals.
Who are the rescue personnel (or rescue team)?
Existing and predictable hazards must be identified by this person.
Who is the Competent Person?
Name three reasons a harness should be removed from service.
What are cuts, burns, chemical damage, missing labels, broken stitching, distortion, or deployed impact indicators?
This is the first control a competent person should consider before selecting any type of PPE.
What is elimination of the hazard?
The minimum clearance typically needed below an SRL setup.
What is 14.5 feet?
ANSI recommends rescue subject contact within this amount of time.
What is 6 minutes?