A lanyard is the flexible connecting element of a personal fall protection system, linking the worker’s full-body harness to an anchor point or to a horizontal/vertical lifeline.
Types
- Shock-absorbing lanyard — for fall arrest, with built-in energy absorber
- Restraint lanyard — fixed length, prevents worker reaching the edge
- Positioning lanyard — allows hands-free work (e.g. tower climbing)
- Twin-tail lanyard — two legs for 100% tie-off when transitioning between anchor points
Standards
EN 354 (lanyards without energy absorber) and EN 355 (lanyards with energy absorber).
Critical limit
Maximum free-fall distance with a shock-absorbing lanyard is typically 1.8 m. Exceeding this can result in serious injury despite the energy absorber, because the impact force overshoots the rated 6 kN limit.