A full body harness is the only thing between a worker and the ground. It is also the piece of equipment most likely to be thrown in the back of a van, dragged across a concrete slab, and left in the sun for a season. Inspection is not paperwork — it is the step that catches the damage those things cause.
There are two inspections that matter: the pre-use check, done by the wearer before every use, and the periodic inspection, done by a competent person at intervals your risk assessment defines. This article covers the first one. It takes about a minute once the habit is built.
Work through the harness in one direction
The most common mistake is checking the parts you can see and missing the parts you cannot. Start at one shoulder and work the whole harness in a single continuous loop so nothing is skipped: shoulder straps, chest strap, dorsal area, waist, thigh straps, and back to the start.
Run the webbing through your hands as you go, bending it into an inverted U every few inches. Flexing the webbing opens the weave and makes damage visible that lies flat and hidden under tension.
What you are looking for on the webbing
- Cuts, nicks and frayed edges. Any cut across load-bearing webbing takes the harness out of service. There is no “small enough” cut.
- Abrasion and fuzzing. Light surface fuzz from normal wear is expected. Fuzzing that has thinned the webbing, or worn away the pattern, is not.
- Heat, sparks and chemical damage. Look for glazed, shiny, hard or brittle patches. Welding spatter leaves hard glossy spots. Chemical exposure can leave webbing discoloured, stiff or unusually soft.
- UV degradation. Sun-bleached, chalky webbing that has lost colour has usually lost strength with it. A harness stored on a dashboard or hung outdoors ages fast.
- Paint, tar or heavy soiling. Contamination hides damage underneath and can stiffen fibres. If you cannot see the webbing, you cannot inspect it.
Stitching
Load-bearing stitch patterns are your primary structural connections. Look for pulled, cut, broken or missing stitches, and for stitching that has begun to loosen at the ends of a pattern. Compare each stitch block against an identical one elsewhere on the harness — the difference is easier to see than the defect itself.
Hardware
D-rings, buckles, adjusters and keepers should be checked for:
- Cracks, deformation, sharp edges or burrs
- Distortion — a D-ring that is no longer flat and true
- Corrosion or pitting beyond light surface discolouration
- Buckles that do not engage positively, or adjusters that slip under load
- Excessive wear where webbing passes through metal
Work every buckle. A quick-connect buckle should click home cleanly and resist a firm pull. If it needs coaxing, it fails.
The fall indicator
Most modern harnesses carry a fall arrest indicator — commonly a folded and stitched section of webbing that tears open, or a marked tell-tale, when the harness has taken an arrest load. A deployed indicator means the harness is finished. It does not matter how good the rest of it looks.
Labels
If the labels are missing, illegible or unreadable, the harness cannot be verified as compliant and should be removed from service. The label carries the standard it was certified to, the manufacturing date, and the serial or batch number that ties it to its inspection record.
Findings that permanently retire a harness
Some findings are not repairable and not a judgement call:
- The harness has arrested a fall, or the fall indicator has deployed
- Any cut, tear or burn to load-bearing webbing or stitching
- Cracked, deformed or badly corroded hardware
- Chemical damage, or heat damage that has glazed or embrittled the webbing
- Missing or illegible labels
- It has passed the manufacturer’s stated maximum service life
Do not return a failed harness to the store where someone else can pick it up. Tag it clearly, cut the webbing so it cannot be reused, and dispose of it.
Build the habit, and record it
The check is only useful if it happens every time. Two things make that stick: keep harnesses on a rack rather than in a heap, so damage is visible at pick-up, and keep a simple inspection log per serial number. When an auditor asks how you know a harness is fit for use, the log is the answer.
This guidance covers general good practice. Always follow the inspection instructions supplied with your specific equipment, and the requirements of the standards and regulations that apply in your jurisdiction. If you are unsure whether a harness is fit for service, take it out of service.
