Collective restraint systems
Collective restraint systems are passive safety systems designed to stop personnel from falling when working from significant heights. Once collective restraint systems have been installed, they do not require workers to take proactive measures in order to be safe. This is why they are considered passive safety measures.
Unlike personal fall arrest or fall prevention systems, collective restraint systems protect numerous workers across a large area. To protect personnel working in high-risk areas, systems should be at least 1.2m high and placed around the perimeter of the area.
Systems can include:
- Guardrails. A guardrail is a longitudinal barrier that prevents people from falling or straying into a dangerous or restricted zone.
- Barriers or guardings. These are structures – either raised rails, parapets or walls – that deny access to unsafe areas
- Purlin trolleys. Purlin trolleys provide workers with a safety deck to walk on and protect them from exposure to edging. They are frequently used in roofing installations.
Some systems are static and do not require removal when they are not in use, but some do not need to be permanently installed and can be disassembled.
If a collective restraint system is not in place, personal fall arrest systems should be used to protect workers in situations where falls are possible.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Approved Document K.
- Barrier.
- BS 7883.
- BS 7883 guide released.
- Construction (Design and Management) Regulations.
- Fall arrest system.
- Fall prevention systems.
- Guarding.
- Guardrail.
- Injuries on construction sites.
- Personal fall protection system.
- Purlins.
- Railings.
- Safety in high places.
- Safety systems for working at heights.
- Site safety.
- Work at height checklist for managers.
- Work at height regulations.
- Work at height.
- Working at height - our duty to prevent harm and protect each other.
- Working at height training.
[edit] External resources
Featured articles and news
IHBC’s response to Parliamentary Committee
On Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill.
Finalists for 2022 CIOB Awards revealed
Over 70 managers and organisations shortlisted for the 14 awards.
Types of building sensors on BD
From biometric to electrical current, chemical and more.
Government mandates detectors in rented homes
Changes are due to come into force on 1st October 2022.
80% of major government projects are rated red or amber
Heed advice and insight of this report IPA tells the government.
The end of the games but continued calls for action
From the Commonwealth Association of Architects.
CIOB respond to the government call for evidence
For the Levelling Up, Housing & Communities Committee.
How are buildings and their occupants responding to extreme heat?
BSRIA's Technical Director reflects on recent weather patterns.
Landownership in England in 1909
A national valuation to fund old-age pensions.
The world’s largest Commonwealth memorial to the missing.
Long after the end of the defects liability period.
BSRIA Occupant Wellbeing survey BOW
Occupant satisfaction and wellbeing in buildings.
Geometric form and buildings in brief
From the simple to the complex.
Understanding the changing nature of insulation
And the UK Government guidelines.
Three year action plan to improve equity, diversity and inclusion
Commitment agreed to by major built environment bodies.
The Construction Route – what needs to change?
Electrical skills, low carbon, high-tech and the building services revolution.
Deep geothermal power possibilities
Ultra-deep drilling with millimeter-wave beam technology.
BSRIA Briefing 2022- From the outside looking in
Looking at the built environment from space.
Competence requirements for principal contractors and designers
BSI standards 8671, 8672 and 8673.
Bringing life to burial grounds.
From failed modernism to twenty-minute neighbourhoods.
Design chill and design freeze
The gates process and change control.