A safety harness inspection is a close, hands-on check of one full body harness — label, webbing, stitching, rings, buckles and adjusters — to decide whether it can be trusted to hold a falling person. This form goes over a single harness in the order a careful inspector would, starts with the history that can rule it out before you even look, and ends with a decision. You can fill it in here and download a PDF record for that harness without creating an account.
One harness, not the whole kit bag
This form is for a single harness at the depth it deserves when it is first issued, when someone has a doubt about it, or at its periodic inspection. If you need to record a whole store — harnesses, lanyards, self-retracting lifelines and connectors together — use the fall protection equipment inspection, which is a register with one entry per item.
Lanyards and connectors are left out here on purpose. They are separate items with their own lives, and they get separated from the harness they came with.
History first: the checks that end it before you look
Three things finish a harness no matter how good it looks: it has arrested a fall, its label is gone so nobody can say what it is or when it was made, or nobody knows where it has been. Those questions come first.
Service life varies by maker. Some give a fixed life from the date of manufacture or first use; others give none and rely on condition. Your procedure decides which you follow, but either way the date of manufacture has to be readable on the label.
How to look at webbing
Hold the strap in both hands and bend it into a tight U, a hand-width at a time, along its whole length and on both faces. Bending opens up cuts and broken fibres that lie flat and invisible when the strap is straight.
What you are looking for:
- Cuts and nicks, including the small ones at the edge where a strap rubs a steel edge.
- Furry or frayed edges and areas worn thin.
- Glazed, hard or melted spots from heat or weld spatter.
- Stains, stiffness or brittle patches from chemicals, paint or solvents.
- Colour faded enough to suggest a long time in the sun.
- Stitch patterns with pulled, cut or worn threads — load-bearing stitching is often a contrasting colour so damage shows.
The fall indicator, and why it is not optional
Many harnesses have a fall indicator near the back attachment ring: a folded section held by tear-away stitching, or a tag that shows a different colour once it has been loaded. If it has opened, the harness has taken a fall-arrest load and is withdrawn — the form asks you to check it as its own question rather than burying it in "stitching".
Common questions
How often should a safety harness be inspected?
Before every use by the wearer, and in detail by a competent person at an interval your procedure and the maker set — commonly every six months, more often for harsh work such as welding or blasting. Also immediately after any fall, drop from height or chemical exposure.
How long does a safety harness last?
It depends on the maker. Some state a maximum life from manufacture or first use; others state no fixed life and rely on inspection. Condition always wins: a harness inside its life that fails inspection is withdrawn, and one that has arrested a fall is finished regardless of age.
Can I wash a harness?
Usually yes, with mild soap and water, then dried naturally away from heat and sunlight. Never use solvents, bleach or a dryer. The maker's instructions are the authority here.
Can I write my name or a number on the webbing?
Not with a marker pen or paint on the load-bearing straps unless the maker allows it — some inks attack the fibres. Use the label space the maker provides, a tag, or a marked sleeve.
Where should the back D-ring sit when the harness is worn?
Between the shoulder blades. A ring sitting low near the waist means the harness is too loose or adjusted wrongly, and in a fall the wearer can be thrown forward or slip out. The optional fit section checks this with the wearer in the harness.