USA Legal Requirements regarding fall protection:

OSHA regulations are:

29 CFR 1910—Occupational Health and Safety Standards for General Industry

29 CFR 1926—Safety and Health Regulations for Construction, Subpart M—Fall Protection

Both these regulations can be viewed at www.OSHA.gov

The relevant ANSI (American National Standards Institute) specifications are contained in ANSI Z359.1, which detail the components of a personal fall arrest system, performance requirements, test methods, etc. ANSI is a non-governmental body dedicated to devising consensus product and methods standards.

While the ANSI standards are not compulsory, they tend to be more rigorous than the equivalent OSHA standards, and are generally accepted as de facto product standards in the industry.

Copies of the current ANSI standards can be obtained directly from ANSI, at www.ansi.org.