Personal Fall Limiters

Personal fall limiters (PFLs) are fall arrest devices, attached directly to the worker’s harness, and are made up of a webbing, cord or cable line contained within a protective housing, which unreels as the user moves away from the anchor point. A spring within the device keeps the webbing or cable under tension and retracts the line when the user back towards the anchor point, thus ensuring there is never any slack in the line. In the event of a fall, the device will immediately lock and stop the fall. PFLs are the baby brother of self-retracting lifelines (SRL), being smaller and offering less movement distance, and are ordinarily attached directly to one of the fall arrest attachment points on a worker’s harnesses. In order to minimise the size of the housing, some manufacturers use an external tear-web design to provide energy absorption, rather than designing it as part of the internal mechanism. PFLs are also sometimes referred to as mini-blocks or retractable lanyards.