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24/30452842 DC BS 8681. Personal fall protection equipment. Anchor systems. Provider competence. Specification, 2024
- Section 1: General
- 0 Introduction [Go to Page]
- 0.1 General
- 0.2 Competence
- 0.3 Behaviour and ethics
- 1 Scope
- 2 Normative references
- 3 Definitions [Go to Page]
- 3.1 anchor system
- 3.2 competent person
- 3.3 contractor
- 3.4 duty holder
- 3.5 examination scheme for inspection
- 3.6 fabricator
- 3.7 inspector
- 3.8 installer
- 3.9 manufacturer
- 3.10 operations and maintenance (O&M) manual
- 3.11 personal fall protection equipment (PFPE)
- 3.12 personal fall protection system (PFPS)
- 3.13 provider
- 3.14 suitably qualified person
- 3.15 system design
- 3.16 system designer
- 3.17 system technical file
- 3.18 trainer
- 3.19 user
- Section 2: Duty holder
- 4 Duty holder [Go to Page]
- 4.1 The duty holder shall:
- Section 3: Provider – General requirements
- 5 General requirements [Go to Page]
- 5.1 Provider decision making and contract review
- 5.2 Competence [Go to Page]
- 5.2.1 Providers shall have a documented process to verify individuals, subcontractors and other providers under their control are competent to carry out their duties and do not act beyond the limits of their competence.
- 5.2.2 Providers shall appoint assessors to undertake assessments of individuals’ competency against a range of criteria, as specified:
- 5.2.3 Assessors shall possess and be able to provide evidence of competency in the specific tasks and in the performance of assessing duties.
- 5.2.4 Competence can diminish over time, particularly where specific skills are used infrequently, e.g. rescue skills; competency shall be maintained, e.g. refresher training, CPD, practicing skills.
- 5.2.5 Providers and individuals shall maintain competencies by keeping their knowledge and skills up to date, including retaining records of training and work undertaken (see Annex B).
- 5.2.6 Providers shall seek advice from a competent provider if they do not have in-house access to competent resources to carry out their work.
- 5.2.7 The individual shall be subject to assessment to verify they have met the required levels of competency.
- 5.2.8 Providers shall have a document control system to keep, maintain and update a library of relevant standards and make those standards available to those who need access.
- 5.2.9 Providers shall carry out work in accordance with current standards and other relevant documents, e.g. industry guidance, codes of practice, etc.
- 5.3 Supervision
- 5.4 Mentoring
- 5.5 Process audit
- 5.6 Internal audits
- 6 Management system [Go to Page]
- 6.1 The provider shall prepare and maintain a documented management system and put in place a documented procedure for implementation and auditing of this system.
- 6.2 The management system shall include, as a minimum, procedures for the following:
- 6.3 Documentation relating to the management system shall be subject to version control. Every document shall be marked with the following:
- 6.4 The documentation referenced in the management system shall be recorded centrally and include a procedure to ensure that only current documents are in use.
- 6.6 Roles and responsibilities shall be provided in an organizational chart showing roles and responsibilities. Roles and responsibilities might change, e.g. through the life of a project or contract, and therefore records of changes shall be recorded...
- Section 4: Provider − Specific requirements
- 7 Training provider records [Go to Page]
- 7.1 Training providers shall keep records of the following:
- 7.2 Training providers shall keep records for training apparatus and training equipment. These records shall include:
- 7.3 Training providers shall keep records of the risk assessments (e.g. for the training/assessment activity, use of tools, training facility) carried out and of the measures taken to minimize risks.
- 8 Trainers [Go to Page]
- 8.1 General [Go to Page]
- 8.1.1 The trainer shall have relevant skills and knowledge, and provide documented evidence of competence in the subject at the level they are to provide training, e.g.:
- 8.1.2 The trainer shall have a relevant minimum level 3 qualification (see Annex B, B.2).
- 8.1.3 The trainer shall provide documented evidence that they are undertaking continuing professional development and up-to-date training, e.g.:
- 8.2 Assessment and certification of trainees on completion of the course [Go to Page]
- 8.2.1 An assessment shall be carried out to determine whether the trainee has met the practical and theoretical assessment criteria and is competent to carry out the techniques covered by the course.
- 8.2.2 Following successful completion of the course and a successful final assessment, the training provider shall issue a certificate, or other documentary evidence, to the trainee. The certificate, or other documentary evidence, shall include the in...
- 8.3 Minimum information to be given on the certificate, or other documentary evidence, issued for the course
- 8.4 Quality assurance of training assessments
- 9 Manufacturer and/or fabricator [Go to Page]
- 9.1 The manufacturer and/or fabricator shall have the correct competencies in the designing, testing, manufacturing and/or fabricating anchor systems.
- NOTE An example of competencies for design might be an engineering degree (or equivalent) and post-graduate industry experience. Design also includes carrying out structural analysis and testing, where applicable.
- 9.2 The manufacturer and/or fabricator shall provide verifiable information to other providers to enable them to carry out their work in accordance with BS 7883.
- 9.3 The manufacturer and/or fabricator, shall, where they deem necessary, provide instruction specifying that installations, inspections and repairs shall only be conducted by trained and authorized providers.
- 9.4 The manufacturer and/or fabricator shall design or have designed and/or test or have tested in accordance with relevant product standards, e.g. BS EN 795, PD CEN/TS 16415, BS EN 353-1, BS EN 353-2 and/or BS 8610, and where relevant, appropriate st...
- 9.5 Where safety critical products are welded, the manufacturer and/or fabricator shall conform to BS EN 1090-1.
- 9.6 The manufacturer and/or fabricator shall produce technical documentation which:
- 9.7 The manufacturer or their appointed agent shall offer specific training which cover the design, installation, inspection and maintenance of PFPS.
- 9.8 The manufacturer or their appointed agent shall make available (e.g. website) copies of all product recalls, safety-related notices, requests for inspection, in a readily accessible location.
- 10 Contractor [Go to Page]
- 10.1 The contractor shall conform to all relevant recommendations, as described in relevant British and European Standards, e.g. BS 7883, BS 8437, BS 8610, BS EN 795, PD CEN/TS 16415, BS EN 353-1, BS EN 353-2, and verify that they are implemented thro...
- 10.2 The contractor shall have the skills, knowledge, experience and, where relevant, the organizational capability to carry out the work safely and without risk to health.
- 11 System designer
- 12 Structural engineering [Go to Page]
- 12.1 Structural verifications, designs and calculations shall be carried out by a suitably qualified person, e.g. chartered structural engineer, member of a professional engineering body (such as ICE, IStructE, IET, IMechE), person with suitable const...
- 12.2 The person carrying out the structural verifications, designs and calculations shall have sufficient knowledge of the performance of PFPS, the service loads and the design loads which shall be provided by the manufacturer and/or system designer.
- 12.3 All engineering designs, calculations and drawings shall, as appropriate, take into account applied loads, type and suitability of the base material, structural anchors and installed elements.
- 12.4 Design calculations shall be provided in accordance with applicable structural design codes and engineering practice.
- 13 Installer [Go to Page]
- 13.1 A minimum of one member of the team carrying out the particular installation shall have been trained and authorized, where deemed necessary, by the manufacturer(s) of the anchor device (see 9.3 and 9.7).
- 13.2 The installer shall be competent to carry out the installation or to repair a PFPS, conforming to BS 7883, BS 8437, the system design (including relevant construction drawings) and manufacturers’ installation instructions.
- 13.3 Changes to any aspect of the system design shall only be carried out with prior approval from the nominated system designer (see Clause 11). Approved changes shall be recorded by the system designer in the system technical file, even if the syste...
- 13.5 One member of the installation team shall be a supervisor and be suitably qualified and competent to carry out their work.
- 13.6 The supervisor of the installation team shall be competent to be able to identify whether there are discrepancies between the system design and the base material and other elements of the PFPS, such as quantity and type of fixings, structural lim...
- 13.8 Each member of the installation team shall have received suitable and sufficient work at height training and be competent to safely work at height, relevant to the task and location of the works being carried out. The work at height training shal...
- 13.9 When attending site to carry out work at height, the installers shall take into account the need for rescue provision, identified anchor point(s) which might be needed for attaching rescue equipment, and have with them appropriate rescue equipmen...
- 13.10 The installer shall verify that the PFPS is functioning correctly and meets the requirements of the system design before handover to the system designer.
- 13.11 The installer shall demonstrate to the duty holder (or their nominated representative) that the PFPS is fully operational and meets the requirements of the system design.
- 13.12 The installer shall only provide familiarization to users on the use of PFPS, where competent to do so.
- 13.13 If the installer does not provide user training, details of appropriate training organizations shall be provided. Work at height training shall be delivered in accordance with BS 8454.
- 14 Inspector [Go to Page]
- 14.1 Each inspector shall be suitably qualified and competent to carry out their work.
- 14.4 When carrying out the inspection prior to first use or after repairs, the inspector shall be independent of the installer or person carrying out those repairs.
- 14.5 When an inspector is carrying out an inspection of PFPS which has identified repairs or replacement parts and/or which require safety critical knowledge and/or manufacturer-approved parts (e.g. replacing energy absorbing elements), the inspector ...
- 14.6 The inspector shall verify that maintenance, repairs, and inspections are carried out in accordance with BS 7883, BS 8437, the system design, the examination scheme for inspection and manufacturers’ inspection instructions.
- 14.8 When attending site to carry out work at height, the inspector(s) shall take into account the need for rescue provision, identified anchor point(s) which might be needed for attaching rescue equipment, and have with them appropriate rescue equipm...
- 14.9 The inspector shall have the appropriate training to recognise both unsuitable structure/base material and non-proprietary elements, anchors or fixings, and take relevant details of these for reverse structural engineering checks where original c...
- 14.10 The inspector shall provide inspection reports in accordance with BS 7883:2019, 12.2.3.
- Section 5: Audit
- 15 Auditor [Go to Page]
- 15.1 The auditor shall be suitably qualified to carry out the audit.
- 15.2 The auditor shall have sufficient technical competence and be cognizant with PFPS, their design, installation, inspection and use, to enable them to carry out the audit in accordance with this British Standard. Where the auditor requires addition...
- 15.3 Where the auditor cannot obtain sufficient evidence from the provider being audited, they shall request or obtain additional evidence, e.g. from the manufacturer of the PFPS.
- 15.4 The external auditor shall be independent and impartial of the provider to enable a non-biased audit is carried out.
- 16 Auditing process [Go to Page]
- 16.1 The audit shall follow the principles in accordance with BS ISO 19011.
- 16.2 The audit shall follow an appropriate audit plan.
- 16.3 If during the audit, the auditor identifies a safety critical non-compliance, a major non-conformance shall be given against this British Standard.
- 16.4 If during the audit, the auditor identifies a non-safety critical non-compliance, a minor non-conformance shall be given against this British Standard.
- 16.5 The scope and limits of the audit shall be clearly shown on:
- 16.6 Certificates issued shall include the type(s) of provider that has been audited, e.g. manufacturer, system designer, installer.
- Annex A (informative) User competency [Go to Page]
- A.1 The user of the PFPS should be competent to use the PFPS correctly and safely and work within the limitation of the system design of the PFPS (see BS 7883:2019, 4.2). Where relevant, training should have included the provision for rescue.
- A.2 The level of training for the user should be to be commensurate with the level of risk and the skill levels required to use the PFPS correctly and safely.
- A.3 The user should be provided with a safe system of work.
- A.4 The user should use the PFPS as instructed and as detailed in the user instructions provided in the O&M manuals, see BS 7883:2019, Clause 11.
- Annex B (informative) Training matrices, records of training and work experience [Go to Page]
- B.1 Training matrix for each type of provider – core knowledge and skills
- B.2 Matrix of underpinning qualifications required for each type of provider
- B.3 Training matrix for providers – vocational training
- B.4 Example of an individual training record
- B.5 Example of a record of work experience
- Annex C (normative) Example of an audit plan [Go to Page]
