Single Point Anchors

OSHA requires an anchorage used for personal fall arrest to support at least 5,000 pounds for each employee attached, or to be designed, installed, and used under the supervision of a qualified person as part of a complete personal fall arrest system that maintains a safety factor of at least two (29 CFR 1910.140(c)(13) general industry; 29 CFR 1926.502(d)(15) construction). The requirement is written per employee, and a single point anchor serves one attached worker, so the full load duty rests on that one point and its connection to the structure. The substrate the anchor fastens to matters as much as the anchor itself, which is why the installation should be engineered rather than simply bolted down.

Under OSHA general industry rules (29 CFR 1910.28), fall protection is generally required at 4 feet above a lower level; under construction (29 CFR 1926.501), the trigger is generally 6 feet. A single point anchor supports compliance wherever one worker needs a certified tie-off at or above those heights and a guardrail is not feasible: a hatch approach, an isolated rooftop unit, a fixed work position at an edge.

Fall protection generally sorts into four approaches: elimination or prevention (removing the hazard or guarding it with passive systems like guardrails), fall restraint (keeping a worker back from the edge so a fall cannot start), fall arrest (stopping a fall in progress with a harness, connector, and anchor), and administrative controls (warning lines, training, and procedures). A single point anchor serves the restraint and arrest tiers, covering a defined work position rather than a travel path. Tritech engineers and installs single point anchors sized to the structure they fasten to.