Whenever someone is working at a height, various steps need to be taken to prevent the risk of injury or death due to a fall. Not only is addressing the risk of a fall required for insurance purposes as an employer, it’s also the law.
Two of the key terms to know about are fall protection and fall prevention. While both relate to mitigating the risks of working at height, they have some essential differences to note and understanding when to apply each is critical to building an effective safety strategy.
Metreel is a leading supplier of fall protection systems and equipment.
In this post, we’ll give you an overview of fall prevention vs fall protection, when each approach applies and the key measures you should take to create a safe working environment.
Please note: This post is intended to provide a helpful resource, but it is not a substitute for independent health and safety advice.
What Is Fall Prevention?
Remember the saying “a stitch in time saves nine”? Fall prevention works on the same principle: act before the risk exists, rather than deal with the consequences afterwards.
Fall prevention uses knowledge of how falls occur so that measures can be put in place to stop a fall from happening in the first place. The exact strategies depend on the hazards present for the work being carried out. Are there ledges, open edges or trip hazards that need to be accounted for before anyone steps onto site?
Fall prevention measures may include:
- Enclosed scaffolding
- Equipment modifications
- Guardrails
- Hole covers
- Visual warnings
Fall prevention is important because it has the potential to vastly reduce, if not eliminate, the chances of a fall occurring. Since the risk has already been designed out, there’s also less reliance on individual worker engagement in the moment, which reduces the chances of human error.
What Is Fall Protection?
Even with the best fall prevention methods in place, some scenarios make prevention impractical or insufficient on its own.
For instance, a task on a roof or a building with an unguarded edge may carry an obvious risk that guardrails can’t fully remove. In these situations, another type of safety solution is required. Fall protection adds an extra layer of security, minimising the risk of injury if a fall does occur.
Examples of fall protection equipment include:
- Lifelines
- Personal fall arrest systems (PFAS)
- Self-retracting lanyards (SRLs)
- Safety nets
A self-retracting lanyard, for example, arrests a fall to limit its distance and reduce the risk of injury, while still allowing the wearer to retain mobility to complete the task. Fall protection equipment is engineered to combat the specific risks it’s designed for, so selecting the right system depends on the type of work being carried out and the height involved.
Fall Prevention vs Fall Protection: What’s the Difference?
| Fall Prevention | Fall Protection | |
| Aim | Stops a fall from happening at all | Minimises injury if a fall occurs |
| Approach | Eliminates or designs out the hazard | Arrests or contains a fall in progress |
| Examples | Guardrails, hole covers, enclosed scaffolding | Harnesses, lanyards, safety nets, lifelines |
| When it’s used | Wherever the hazard can be designed out | Where prevention alone isn’t feasible |
In most comparison articles, it’s usually the case that one option is better than the other. But when it comes to fall prevention vs fall protection, both strategies are critical to reducing the risk of injury from a fall and in practice most workplaces rely on a combination of the two.
The main difference is that when fall prevention doesn’t go far enough to eliminate the risk, or simply isn’t feasible for the application, fall protection can be worn or installed to add a further level of safety.
Choosing the Right Approach for Your Site
Deciding between fall prevention and fall protection isn’t usually an either/or choice; it’s about applying the right control at the right point in the hierarchy of risk. A useful starting point is a proper risk assessment: identify where people are exposed to a fall, establish whether the hazard can be designed out entirely and only move to protection equipment where prevention isn’t practical.
It’s also worth remembering that equipment on its own isn’t enough. Regular inspection, correct fitting and proper training all affect how well a fall protection system performs in practice, which is why LOLER-compliant lifting and access equipment needs to be checked and maintained as part of an ongoing safety programme rather than treated as a one-off purchase.
Metreel – Discover Our Solutions To Protect Your Team When Working At A Height
Metreel is a leading supplier of fall protection equipment. If you’re searching for ways to protect your team while working at height, then you’re in the right place.
Take a look around our website to view our range of fall arrest, fall restraint, access ladders and abseil equipment. Alternatively, you can learn more about our products by downloading the free Metreel brochure.
Or, if you’d like to speak to our team about finding the best solution to suit your needs, please drop us a message or give us a call on 0115 932 7010.