Among the many occupational risks construction workers encounter every day falling from a height is the most dangerous. The objective of this article is to propose a simple analytical design method for horizontal lifelines (HLLs) that considers anchorage flexibility. The article presents a short review of the standards and regulations/acts/codes concerning HLLs in Canada the USA and Europe. A static analytical approach is proposed considering anchorage flexibility. The analytical results are compared with a series of 42 dynamic fall tests and a SAP2000 numerical model. The experimental results show that the analytical method is a little conservative and overestimates the line tension in most cases with a maximum of 17%. The static SAP2000 results show a maximum 2.1% difference with the analytical method. The analytical method is accurate enough to safely design HLLs and quick design abaci are provided to allow the engineer to make quick on-site verification if needed.

Residential roofing is considered as one of the most risky occupations. Usually, workers use roof anchors for fall protection during roof installation. This method is time consuming and hinders their tasks. Instead of roof anchors, a building contractor has developed a horizontal lifeline system (HLLS) consisting of two 4.9-m long posts made up of three aluminum hollow structural sections of size 51×152×6.4 mm welded together and a horizontal lifeline (HLL) wire rope of 9.5 mm diameter. The posts are assembled to end trusses and hoisted in place by a crane and the HLL is installed at 1.524 m above the ridge. The HLLS is heavy and has never been tested on on-site braced trusses as the host structure. This paper presents the results of a study to evaluate and optimize the HLLS and to verify the strength of on-site braced trusses as the host structure of the HLLS. Tests results show that the HLLS and the on-site braced trusses have passed all fall tests and can be used as fall protection during roof ...