EP3045209B1 - Device for providing safety against falling for avoiding suspension trauma - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device for fall protection of persons comprising a harness with arm loops and leg loops, wherein on the harness, in particular on the arm loops at least a first securing eye is arranged, to which a safety rope is attached or attached, in particular wherein the at least one first securing eye in Back region, preferably in the neck region of the further preferably arranged there crossed arm loops is arranged.

Such a harness may e.g. a belt construction, in which two arm loops and two leg loops are provided, wherein an arm loop and a leg loop on a respective body side in the belt guide, in particular by crossing a belt in the lateral body area merge into one another. Arm and leg loops of a respective body side can be, e.g. be realized by a substantially 8-shaped guide a belt.

In this case, it is not absolutely necessary for a self-integrating belt to form such a crossed loop, but it can also be a composite of several connected belt pieces. For example, for an arm loop area and a leg loop area on each side of the body, respectively separate Gurtstück be used, which are interconnected, for example by releasable connector.

Other constructions common harnesses may also provide a hip belt and / or chest strap, in particular the connection of arm loops and leg loops and / or the connection of the straps from one body side to the other makes. For example, For example, two arm loops with a hipbelt and two leg loops can be connected with this hipbelt.

The respective connections between the loops and a hip belt may e.g. also done via straps.

The invention is basically applicable to any type of harness, which has at least one pair of arm loops and leg loops, regardless of how their connection is made with each other.

The position indication "in the back region" or "in the neck region" refers to the designation of the position of the at least one eyelet when the harness has been correctly and correctly applied by a person. This also applies to the following location information. Other location or direction refers to a standing person or person with a head up and feet down.

A hip belt is understood to be a belt that a person can put around their hips. Such a belt can be opened and closed and adjustable in the circumferential length. The same applies to a possible chest belt. In particular, a Umfangslängeneinstellbarkeit can also be provided in the loops of arms and / or legs.

Under a securing eye is still understood any element that is suitable, a connection between safety rope and harness, or also to produce the tether invention described later. For example, a metal ring, a belt loop or a snap hook can form such a securing eye.

Devices of this type are known in the art and are used to secure persons working at heights from falling, namely by attaching a safety cable at one of its ends to at least one first securing eye of the harness and with the other end to one fixed fuse element. So a working person is practically roped and pulls the safety rope at work. Since the safety rope is preferably fastened to the harness in the upper back or neck region, it does not interfere further in the working area lying in front of the person.

If a person crashes z. B. when working at heights, the rope is tightened, possibly taking advantage of a damping effect of a arranged in the rope damping element so that the enthroned in the harness person is caught by the tightening rope and hereafter hanging on the safety rope, ideally without himself to have hurt.

The arrangement or attachment of the safety rope to the harness is preferably selected in such fall protection that the rope engages the aforementioned at least one first eyelet in a neck or shoulder region of the harness, so that the abrupt braking force as well as by the free hanging generated weight is transmitted both over the arm loops and the two leg loops, if necessary. Also on the chest and / or hip belt on the body of the person hanging. By this power transmission to several body areas of the person is essentially avoided that the person carries off physical damage in a crash.

It is thereby also ensured that the deceleration of the falling person essentially takes place in an upright position of the person. By the rear engagement of the at least one securing eye in the back or neck or shoulder area is also ensured that when braking the case, the head in the neck area can not bend backwards, but only forward with the chin toward the chest.

Although fall protection can prevent a person from falling directly to the ground due to a fall, there is still the problem that an orthostatic shock or a so-called hanging trauma occurs after an extended period of hanging on the safety rope, usually at the latest after 20 minutes. which can also lead to death in the person. When using such known fall protection, it is therefore absolutely necessary to free a person hanging very quickly from the hanging position by rescue, to avoid such Hängetrauma and associated health problems and even death.

However, such rescue measures can not be performed in all cases in the necessary short time, especially if, for example, only height rescuers must be brought to the place of use.

There are already fall protection, in which the crashed person is after the crash in a sitting position. Here, the safety rope on the shoulder strap is guided and releasably secured so that it moves from a position on the back of the person after loosening the attachment to a position on the chest of the person, see for example US 6,374,946 B1 or US 2010/025148 A1 , The automatic transfer to a sitting position means a fast passing the safety rope on the head of the crashed person, which can bring dangers.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a fall protection with a harness of the type mentioned in such a way that a person hanging can be protected against the occurrence of a suspended trauma.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by a device for fall protection according to claim 1, in particular in that in the front region of the harness, at least a second securing eye is arranged, on which a tether is fastened or fastened and on the harness, in particular above a possibly hip belt, in particular on at least one of the arm loops, a holding element is arranged, with which the tether in the unloaded by the weight of a person state close to the harness, especially the harness, preferably at least one arm loop contacting in a holding position preserved or is held and is solvable in the burdened by the weight of a person state of the retaining layer.

In a method of avoiding suspended trauma in a person supported by a fall arrestor having a harness and suspended by means of the harness on a safety rope attached to a portion of the harness located in the neck of the person hanging, such that the person is both in the arm as well as in the leg loops of the harness, it is thus provided that a separate to the safety rope and in particular to the safety rope (at least above the body) parallel tether attached to a arranged in the front region of the hanging person belt part of the harness is tightened after the crash and thereby the safety rope is relieved of the weight of the person and the tether is loaded by the weight of the person, so that the person is transferred to a seated in leg loops of the harness position.

The said front region of the harness may be formed in the device as well as the method by a belt region of the harness which runs on the front side of the body of the person, for example by the front hip or abdominal region of a hip belt, in particular the single or one of two hip straps of the Harness or through an area on the front of a chest harness or an area on the front of one or both arm loops. The front side of the body is understood to be any part of the body which, in a straight line of vision, is located in front of the body's center of gravity, in particular in front of the body anatomical frontal plane of the body, so that by redistributing the body load from the safety rope to the tether automatically rotation of the body of the person takes place so that the head to the rear and the feet are relocated to the front.

In the device, it is essential that in addition to a safety rope, which is intended to catch the crash of a person, yet another tether is used, which is also attached to the harness and, for example, at least above the person parallel to the safety rope, which, however, in his length or tracking is chosen so that it is in spite of a fastening or deflection z. B. at the same place of safety as the safety rope in a crash does not intercept the fall itself, so this is not streamlined, therefore, therefore, initially in a crash or crash of this rope by the weight of the person is not charged.

Such a rope is fastened to the harness according to the above-described device with a holding element so that it is set close to the harness or close to the body of the person carrying the harness, z. B. the harness, in particular an arm loop or both arm loops contacted here and thereby has a holding position in which this additional second rope does not bother a person at work, as it despite an arrangement in front of the abdominal / chest area of the person not in the work area z. B. in the work area reached by the hands of the person is reached, because it is held in the holding position close to the harness, so close to the body.

Accordingly, such a tether is initially arranged completely passively on the device for fall protection during work and also after a crash.

Only after a person has crashed, it is provided that this additional tether is tightened, for example, by being caught by a winch or by another person or even by the crashed person himself is tightened, so that thereby the weight of Person, which is initially intercepted by the safety rope, then transfers to the tether and thereby the tether is removed from the previous Haltelage.

A person may wear the tether e.g. self-tightening, when an upper, ie person-upwards, cable section of the tether on at least one over-person pulley, e.g. is arranged stationary, is returned to the person. Thus, the person can pull himself up the tether, which is particularly simple if the deflection is not only by a single pulley, but by a staggering pulley construction.

Accordingly, the tether is actively used only after a crash, and it may be provided according to a preferred embodiment of the device, that the holding element is designed so that the tether is released from the holding position under load by the weight of a person by a detachment the retaining element of the harness, in particular of an arm loop or by releasing the tether from the holding element, which the tether example partially encloses.

For example, it may be provided for this purpose that the holding element is tubular or sleeve-shaped, so that the tether can be passed through the holding element, wherein the retaining element may be made for example of a textile and wherein the connection of the holding element to the harness or the hose - Or the sleeve casing of the holding element has a predetermined breaking point, which breaks under the burden of the weight of a person, for example, a hook and loop fastener.

This ensures that the tether is released from the retaining layer when the weight of a person acts on the tether, so that the weight of the person is then transmitted via the at least one second securing eye on the tether and due to the fact that the securing eye in front belt area is arranged, the person is then transferred from the first hanging in the neck position in a sitting position, in particular in which the person sits at least or even exclusively in leg loops of the harness. Such leg loops, which can keep the person in the sitting position even after a crash, e.g. be attached by the crashed person himself to the harness.

As a result, an orthostatic shock and thus the so-called hanging trauma can be effectively avoided, since the seated position corresponds to an anatomically favorable position for the person in which no vascular constriction or blood bagging occurs.

The device according to the invention can further preferably provide that the tubular or sleeve-shaped retaining element extends along a front, breast-side belt portion of an arm loop, in particular when the tether is guided by the retaining element to or at least to the vicinity of the first securing eye.

Thus, the tether is indeed carried over the abdominal and chest area of a person carrying the harness, but is here, as long as it is not active, in the aforementioned holding position and does not interfere in the working area of the person and can then, for example from the first securing eye, at which the safety rope is attached, are guided substantially parallel to this to an attachment point, in particular to that on which the safety rope is attached or in the vicinity.

Such a holding device may e.g. be formed by a shoulder pad that can be wrapped around one or both arm loops. Such a shoulder pad may be circumferentially wrapped around the respective arm loop and closed, e.g. through a Velcro closure. Like an arm loop, therefore, the tether can also be inserted into this pad and this can be closed afterwards. By loading the tether with the weight of the person, it is pulled out of the shoulder pad by automatically tearing the hook and loop fastener.

The device according to the invention can provide in one possible embodiment that there is only one pair of arm loops and a pair of leg loops on the harness, in particular if necessary connected by a hip belt, in which case the at least one securing eyelet in the neck region of the arm loops of this preferably crossed there Harness is arranged.

The invention provides that the tether splits at its lower end pointing to the person in two pieces of rope on both sides of the person's sagittal plane on the harness, but still in the front area, ie before the center of gravity or front of the anatomical frontal plane Harness are attached. For example, the attachment of the lower ends of the two pieces of rope can be made laterally on respective second securing eyelets on a hip belt or also on the front in the chest region of both arm loops. Preferably, the location of the split of the tether is located so that this location is in the sitting after a crash held position of the person above the head. The splitting is realized by a preferably rigid strap on which the upper portion of the tether is centrally attached and at the outer ends of the two pieces of rope the lower portion of the tether are attached. Thus, a distance between the cable pieces can be effected by the bracket, preferably such that the head of a person passes through this distance range between the cable pieces.

However, the device can also provide that the harness is formed in two parts and comprises a first harness part and a second harness part, in particular, which can be connected to each other, e.g. by straps, wherein the first harness part comprises a first hip belt, two arm loops connected to the first hip belt, and a first pair of two leg loops connected to the first hip belt, the at least one first securing eye being arranged on the arm loops of this first harness part.

Such a first harness part can basically correspond to a fall arrest device known from the prior art. According to the invention, the second harness part can now have a second hip belt and a second pair of two leg loops connected to the second hip belt, the at least one second safety eye being arranged on the second hip belt or the second pair of leg loops, to which the tether can be fastened or fastened ,

Such a design of the harness of two harness parts has the advantage that the two harness parts can be optimally adapted separately to their respective function, namely the first harness part to the function to intercept a case of a falling person and the forces optimally on the body of the falling Person to distribute, wherein the second harness part in the training of hipbelt and leg loops can be optimized to achieve a particularly anatomically favorable seating position with this harness part of a person who hangs on the second safety eye on the tether after its activation. The second harness part can also be offered as a retrofit product to be able to retrofit existing harnesses with the function of the invention.

According to the invention, the tether is designed in several parts with an upper cable section and a lower cable section facing the harness, the lower cable section comprising two side by side, in particular parallel spaced, elastically flexible cable pieces with the upper cable section, in particular via a Distance defining bracket, are connected, wherein the lower ends of the cable pieces are connected via a respective second securing eye with a front portion of the harness, preferably the front portion of the arm loops.

The second securing eyelets may here be designed such that the straps of the arm loops can be fastened to them, e.g. in that a belt piece of a respective arm loop is bent into a loop and this is passed through the recess of the securing eye. Thereafter, a cross bar can be guided through the formed belt loop, which prevents the retraction of the loop from the securing eye.

The invention can provide that only the preferably elastic cable pieces of the lower cable section of the multi-part tether are held in the holding element, in particular in each case to a respective arm loop own area of the holding element. The aforementioned bracket can be arranged in the non-active position of the tethers eg in the neck area. On each of the rope pieces, for example, a separate leg loop can be fastened or at least attachable via an intermediate belt, in particular the intermediate belt can be detachably fastened to a connector of the respective cable piece. So must the leg loops, which for sitting hold the crashed person may not already be initially arranged on the harness, but can be attached there only when a crash has occurred.

The invention has the advantage that a separate retrofitting of such previously described lower cable section, which is provided to be connected to an upper cable section to form a multi-part tether, as well as a simple retrofit for existing harnesses is possible to form a device according to the invention.

Such a retrofit kit for harnesses may include in addition to such a lower cable section and a holding element and / or a simple rope as the upper rope section to form a total device according to the invention.

Embodiments of the invention and the method will be explained in more detail with reference to the following figures.

The Fig. 1 shows first in back view of a person 1 a fall protection with a harness, which is applied in this representation to the person, this harness has a hip belt 2 and two arm loops 3a and 3b, the belt portions of these two arm loops emanating from the hip belt 2, respectively the person's shoulder are guided and returned to the waist belt. In this representation, shown here, the embodiment is such that the arm loops are guided in the upper back or neck area of the person crossing each other and in this crossing region a first securing eye 4 is arranged, in which, for example, with a snap hook 5, a safety rope is attached. On the hip belt 2, a first pair of leg loops 7a and 7b is further secured, through which pass the legs of the person.

This proportion of the harness, which is drawn here with solid lines, essentially corresponds to the harness of a fall protection of the known prior art.

The embodiment here additionally comprises, according to the invention, a further harness part shown here in dashed lines, comprising a second hip belt 8 and two further leg loops 9a and 9b. This second pair of leg loops 9a, 9b is here spaced from the first pair of leg loops 7a, 7b towards the person's feet.

Alternatively, but not shown, the hip belt 8 may be integrally formed with the waist belt 2, or both waist belts 2 and 8 are separately but at least connected, e.g. By intervening straps or hip belt 2 and 8 are formed by a single hip belt simultaneously, in particular, thus combining both functions (fall protection and Hängetraumavermeidung).

According to the front presentation of the person in the Fig. 2 it can be seen that on the second hip belt 8, a second securing eye 10 is arranged, on which an additional tether 11, for example, also attached with a snap hook. This tether 11 is here, starting from the second securing eye 10 along the extension of one of the two arm loops, here the arm loop 3b to the shoulder and out into the area of the first securing eye 4, as it Fig. 1 again from the back represents.

At the arm loop 3b, the additional tether 11 is fixed in a holding position by means of a retaining element not shown here. This retaining element can in a simplest case, for. B. be a thread with which this rope attached to the belt area of the arm loop 3b, which is located in the abdominal / chest area of the person wearing, eg by sewing or looping is, so that upon activation, ie when a force load of this rope ruptures this thread and the tether 11 from the arm loop 3b triggers.

In another embodiment, it may also be provided that along the extension of the abdominal / chest-side region of the arm loop 3b a z. B. textile hose through which the tether 11 is passed, wherein under load of the tether 11 either the entire textile tube from the belt area of the arm loop 3b ruptures or ruptures the tube itself, which in turn the tether 11 is released in both cases. On the second hip belt 8, the further pair of leg loops 9a and 9b is also fastened via connecting straps 12.

The Fig. 3 shows the use of the in the Fig. 1 and 2 shown fall protection, namely in the Fig. 3 top left first, the situation in which the person has crashed 1 and hanging on the safety rope 6, which is attached via the first securing eye 4 in the neck area to the arm loops 3a and 3b.

The person thus depends essentially upright and slightly tilted upside down and with his arms and legs pointing down on the safety rope 6. In this position, although the person has been secured against the crash death, but it can especially by constrictions due to the straps and Blutabsackungen to a Suspended trauma come, which already after 20 min. can also lead to the death of the person.

After the inventive method, in particular with the device according to the invention, it is now provided to tighten the loose parallel to the safety rope 6 extending additional tether 11 z. B. by an assistant, who can use a winch for this purpose, so that the weight of the person hanging is gradually transferred from the safety rope 6 on the tether 11 and this from the holding position that is the attached position on the arm loop 3b solved, for example, is torn out.

Free hanging, the weight of the person on the second securing eye in the front hip or abdominal area of the hip belt 8 can be added. The Fig. 3 bottom right shows that the crashed person is transferred by the rearrangement of the weight of the safety rope 6 on the tether 11 in an anatomically favorable sitting position in which a suspended trauma is avoided.

From this hanging position, the person can be rescued easily, even after exceeding such times as typically 20 min., After which otherwise in a hanging position according to Fig. 3 top left would use a hanging trauma.

The Figures 4ff describe a further preferred embodiment of the invention, according to which the tether 11 is formed in several parts. In the FIG. 4 In essence, the lower cable portion 11b of a multi-part tether 11 according to the invention is shown. Upwards to the right, the upper tether portion 11a leads away from the person. This upper section is essentially a simple rope.

The lower section comprises a bracket 11d, to which the upper cable section 11a is centrally fastened and at the two outer ends 11f of which a cable section 11c leading down to the person's harness is fastened. This rope piece 11c may preferably be elastic in each case, e.g. include an elastic band or be formed from this. Of course, a non-stretchable design of the pieces of rope is possible.

At the lower ends of the cable pieces 11c, the second mentioned safety eyes 10 are respectively formed, through which the straps of arm loops of a harness can be passed in a loop and secured with the crossbars 10a against retraction. The type of attachment between the pieces of rope and the arm loops is not limited to this type shown, but can also be done by other types of safety lugs.

The connectors 11e are provided to secure separate leg loops thereto. The in the FIG. 4 shown arrangement of parts which forms a lower cable portion 11b of the tether 11, so can be sold as a retrofit kit.

FIG. 5 visualized the lower cable section 11b in dashed lines after attachment to the harness, or here specifically to the two arm loops 3a, 3b. Along the extension of the arm loops, the pieces of rope 11 c are placed on the front region to over the shoulder back to the neck area, where according to FIG. 6 the bracket 11d is arranged, which connects the cable pieces 11c with the upper cable section 11a, in particular in this case also defines a distance between the cable pieces. This guide takes place at least in the front region of the arm loop by a holding element, not shown here, with which the cable pieces 11c are held close to the body when not in use, in particular in contact with the respective Armschlaufe3a, 3b. Such a holding element may be formed by a tubular or sleeve-like preferably textile element, which can be wrapped around an arm loop and the respective rope piece and closed, for example with a hook-and-loop fastener.

The upper cable section 11a of the multi-part tether 11 according to the invention extends upwards away. The safety rope is not shown here for reasons of clarity. It would be attached to the securing eye 4.

FIG. 7 Visualizes the situation after a person crashes. This first depends on the safety rope 6, which is connected via the eyelet 4 with the harness.

Here, the person 1 himself pulls on the upper tether portion 11a returned to the person and thereby expands the elastic cord pieces 11c, so that the bail 11d is guided to a position above the head. The head can in this case be passed through the distance between the cable sections 11c, so that the bracket reaches a position above and preferably in front of the head. The forces acting on the cable pieces 11c pull them out of the holder on the arm loops 3a, 3b, e.g. because their hook and loop fasteners tear open.

The FIG. 8 shows the situation in the relocated position. The person now only hangs on the tether 11 on the rope pieces 11c, the safety cable 6 is relieved. On the connectors 11e, which are arranged on the cable pieces 11c, separate leg loops 9a, 9b are fastened, which the person himself may have made. The person can first run the loops over the legs, eg, open the loops therefor and close them again and then attach them to the connectors 11e via the belt elements 9c. This puts the person in a sitting position without the risk of trauma.

Claims (8)

1. A device for securing persons against falling, comprising a harness with arm loops (3a, 3b) and leg loops (7a, 7b), at least one first securing eyelet (4) being arranged in a neck region of the harness, to which a catching rope (6) is attached with one of its ends and is fastened with the other end to a stationary securing member, and the catching rope can be tightened by a fall of a person strapped into the harness and the strapped person can be caught by the tightening catching rope, wherein in a front region of the harness, at least one second securing eyelet (10) is arranged to which a holding rope (11) is fastened which runs parallel to the catching rope at least above the body of a strapped-in person, the holding rope being selected in its length or tracking such that a fall cannot be caught by the holding rope despite fastening or deflection and the holding rope cannot be tightened by the fall, the holding rope being tightenable after a fall by a winch, a further person or the fallen person, and the weight of the person thereby being transferable to the holding rope, whereby the person can be transferred from a position hanging in the neck into a seated position and at least one holding member is arranged on the harness on at least one of the arm loops (3a, 3b), with which holding member the holding rope (11) is held in a holding position contacting the harness in the state unloaded by the weight of a person and can be released from the holding position in the state loaded by the weight of a person, for which the holding member is designed to release the holding rope (11) from the holding position when loaded by the weight of a person by detaching the holding member from the harness or by releasing the holding rope from the at least one holding member, wherein the holding rope (11) is formed in several parts with an upper rope section (11a) and a lower rope section (11b) facing the harness, wherein the lower rope section (11b) comprises two elastically flexible rope pieces (11c) which extend side by side and are fastened to the outer ends of a bracket (11d) which is centrally connected to the upper rope section (11a), wherein the lower ends of the rope pieces (11c) are each connected to a front region of the harness via a second securing eyelet (10).
2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the holding member is tubular or sleeve-shaped, the connection of the holding member to the harness or the hose or sleeve casing having a predetermined breaking point which breaks open under loading by the weight of a person.
3. The device according to one of the previous claims, characterized in that the tubular or sleeve-shaped holding member extends along a belt portion of an arm loop (3b), whereby the holding rope (11) is guided through the holding member up to or at least into the vicinity of the first securing eyelet (4).
4. The device according to one of the previous claims, characterized in that the harness comprises a first harness part and a second harness part, wherein the first harness part comprises a first hip belt (2), two arm loops (3a, 3b) connected to the first hip belt and a first pair of two leg loops (7a, 7b) connected to the first hip belt (2), and the at least one first securing eyelet (4) is arranged at the arm loops (3a, 3b), 3b), and the second harness part comprises a second hip belt (8) and a second pair of two leg loops (9a, 9b) connected to the second hip belt, and the at least one second securing eyelet (10) is arranged at the second hip belt (8) or at the second pair of leg loops (9a, 9b).
5. The device according to one of the previous claims, characterized in that only the rope pieces (11c) of the lower rope section of the holding rope (11) are held in the holding member.
6. The device according to claim 5, characterized in that the rope pieces (11c) of the lower rope section of the holding rope (11) are each held in a separate region of the holding member.
7. The device according to Claim 5 or 6, characterized in that a separate leg loop (9a, 9b) is fastened or can at least be fastened to each of the rope pieces (11c) on a connector (11e) of the respective rope piece via an intermediate belt (9c).
8. The device according to one of the previous claims, characterized in that a belt piece of a respective arm loop, bent into a loop, is passed through a recess of a respective second securing eyelet (10), wherein a cross bar guided through the loop preventing the loop from being withdrawn from the securing eyelet.

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