PFAS - Connectors

A personal fall arrest system (PFAS) must be made of individual components that meet the following criteria:

Connectors must be drop-forged, pressed or formed steel, or made of equivalent materials. They must have a corrosion-resistant finish. All surfaces and edges must be smooth to prevent damage to interfacing parts of the system.

Dee-rings and snap hooks must have a minimum tensile strength of 5,000 pounds. In addition, they must meet the following criteria:

• Must be proof-tested to a minimum tensile load of 3,600 pounds without cracking, breaking, or taking permanent deformation.
• Snap hooks must be sized to be compatible with the member to which they are connected to prevent unintentional disengagement of the snap hook by depression of the snap hook keeper by the connected member, or must be a locking type snap hook designed and used to prevent disengagement of the snap hook by the contact of the snap hook keeper by the connected member. Effective January 1, 1998, only locking type snap hooks must be used.
• Unless the snap hook is a locking type and designed for the following connections, snap hooks must not be engaged in the following ways:
  • Directly to webbing, rope, or wire rope
  • To each other
  • To a dee-ring to which another snap hook or other connector is attached
  • To a horizontal lifeline
  • To any object which is incompatibly shaped or dimensioned in relation to the snap hook such that unintentional disengagement could occur by the connected object being able to depress the snap hook keeper and release itself

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