PPE EN Equipment Standards

All products manufactured for sale in the EU as Personal Protective Equipment must comply to one or more relevent product standards. These are all EN pr prEN specifications, and a compliant product should be marked with the EN number, the CE code logotype and the details of the approvals agency. Below is a list of all equipment specifications relating to height safety PPE.

Work Equipment Standards: PPE Against Falls From A Height

Industrial height safety equipment generally has a standard in this section, and more are being added over time. If an industrial standard exists, then products used AT WORK must comply to it.

Standard	Relates to:
EN341	Descender devices
EN353-1	Guided type fall arresters type 1 : rigid anchorage line (rail systems such as the Railok)
EN353-2	Guided type fall arresters type 2 : flexible anchorage line (wire and rope-based systems such as Latchways, Rockers, ASAP)
EN354	Lanyards
EN355	Shock absorbers (both discrete devices and components of other systems)
EN358	Work positioning systems (polestraps, etc)
EN360	Retractable fall arresters (blocks and reels)
EN361	Full body fall arrest harnesses
EN362	Connectors (karabiners, scaffold hooks, etc)
EN363	Fall arrest systems (tested as a complete system)
EN364	Test methods - the standard for how to test products for compliance, used by manufacturers.
EN365	General requirements for instructions for use, maintenance, periodic examination, repair, marking and packaging - the standard defining what labels and instructions must be used on a product, and what the user is responsible for in terms of maintenance and examination.
EN813	Sit harnesses (industrial abseil harnesses)
EN1891	Low stretch kernmantel rope (semi-static rope)

Mountaineering And Climbing Equipment Standards

Many products do not yet have an industrial standard, but there is a 'sport mountaineering' version. These mostly come from UIAA specifications, and are no less stringent. If a product does NOT have an industrial standard, then a mountaineering compliance makes it suitable for use at work. If a product has both, the industrial standard must be used. The best example of this is connectors - a snap-lock karabiner will comply to EN12275 but fail EN362 (which needs a locking mechanism), and so it cannot be used at work.

Standard	Relates to:
EN564	Accessory cord, safety requirements and test methods
EN565	Tape, safety requirements and test methods
EN566	Slings, safety requirements and test methods
EN567	Rope clamps, safety requirements and test methods
EN568	Ice anchors, safety requirements and test methods
EN569	Pitons, safety requirements and test methods
EN892	Dynamic mountaineering rope, safety requirements and test methods
EN893	Crampons, safety requirements and test methods
EN958	Energy absorbing systems for via ferrata (klettersteig) climbing, safety requirements and test methods
EN959	Rock anchors, safety requirements and test methods
EN12270	Chocks, safety requirements and test methods
EN12275	Connectors, safety requirements and test methods
EN12276	Frictional anchors, safety requirements and test methods
EN12277	Harnesses, safety requirements and test methods
EN12278	Pulleys, safety requirements and test methods
EN12492	Climber's safety helmets, safety requirements and test methods
EN13089	Ice tools, safety requirements and test methods

General Standards Relating To PPE And Ropes

Standards for equipment that may be used outside height safety, such as fibre ropes and site helmets.

Standard	Relates to:
EN397	Industrial safety helmets (site hats)
EN696	Polyamide fibre ropes (laid and braided - not kernmantel)
EN701	General service fibre ropes (natural fibre and other polymers not covered by EN696)
EN795	Anchor devices - requirements and testing (industrial and climbing anchors for any purpose)
EN45014	General criteria for Certificates of Conformity (instructions for manufacturers)

Rescue Lifting And Climbing Standards

Specialist standards for rescue equipment. These can only be used for rescuing a casualty in an emergency situation, and are not acceptable for normal 'work' use unless they also comply to the relevent industrial standards, so a harness that complies to EN1497 but not to EN361 cannot be used for industrial fall arrest.

Standard	Relates to:
EN1496	Rescue lifting devices (hauling and winching devices)
EN1497	Rescue harnesses (rescue nappies and emergency escape harnesses)
EN1498	Rescue loops (casualty lifting strops)

The full text of each standard can be purchased online from sites such as BSI Online, but is not freely available.

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