Useful Information to fixing of Safety Net at Construction Industry

If safety nets are used as fall protection device the following must be considered:

·         Use only safety nets which are approved, permanently marked and undamaged.

·         Nets to be System S nets (nets with lateral ropes).

·         Use safety nets only when they are checked not more than 1 year ago.

·         Fasten safety nets only to stable structural parts (Refer Pic-1). Each suspension point must be capable to bear a characteristic load of at least 6 KN.

·         For safety nets an operation instruction must be available on site.

When hanging the nets the following conditions must be observed:

·         The falling height in the border area of the net suspension must not exceed

      3.00 m (Refer Pic-2).

·         The falling height in the remaining area of the net must not exceed 6.00 m.

                       o       Safety nets for inclined areas 0° to 20°

                                  Falling height (H): ≤ 1.0 ≤ 3.0 ≤ 6.0 m.

                                  Minimum catching width (b): ≥ 2.0 ≥ 2.5 ≥ 3.0 m.

      ·         Consider the deformation of the safety net due to loading to avoid hitting the ground or objects (Refer Pic-3).

      ·         Use only safety nets with mesh size ≤ 10 cm as fall protection device.

      ·         If safety nets shall protect against falling objects the mesh size must not exceed 2 cm.

Caution: Sharp-edged objects (e.g. broken glass) may destroy the safety net!

Examples for net suspension by twisting and knotting with single and twin stranded suspension rope (Refer Pic-4). The breaking force may be proven by presentation of the material certificates or inspection certificates on site.

The distance between the suspension points must not exceed 2.50 m and must chose such that the deflection of the net is less than 30 cm.

For splicing of safety nets coupling ropes are to be used by which each mesh is to be entwisted.