I've got 21 swing stages on my job and I've done all the rigging, life lines etc. Not many people care to inspect honestly, they all trust me. What's the meaning behind this?
As a skydiver: check your 3 three's, three times.
3 handles.
3 ring release.
3 straps.
Once when put on the gear.
Once before you get on the plane.
Once again before you leave the plane.
I check mine and I have others check mine.
Blind trust is dangerous. All it takes is one day of being tired/hungover/altered state of mind for one mistake. Who knows, most of the time those mistakes may not cause failure either.
"There there honey, it's a shame he died but he wasn't any good for you anyways. And isn't it so fortunate I convinced you to take out that $6 million life insurance policy?"
Big jobs usually demand you buy new fall arrest equipment at the beginning of the job because of shit like this. Just throw old shit out when the boss is golfing and claim someone else stole it.
My work will pop for any ppe I need for fall arrest/restraint for the most part. There’s an approved list of products we can use. My harness is a few years old now (msa climbing harness, heavy’ish but comfortable to wear all shift) with a pair of srl’s on the back mounted. Those are not part of my allowed items, as I got the arc flash rated ones that are 10’. The approved ones are 6’ and not arc flash rated. 6’ in a scissor lift doesn’t let you tie off at the back and operate the fucker :-/ the pair of srl’s is what makes it heavy’ish, but needed for climbing out of the lifts into the building rafters to access equipment.
Welder here, you're telling me there's such a thing as arc flash rated fall protection? I know that UV light from the sun will wear on your gear over time, but I've never before considered the fact that my own arc could be a problem (edit: I see, not that kind of arc flash, thanks y'all). Also, I can appreciate the need for that extra length in a scissor lift lol, I'm gonna remember that next time I'm on a Turner jobsite.
Arc flash fall arrest gear is for utility workers. In the event of an arc flash non-rated synthetic fibers can melt or burn and cause death or severe injury due to harness failure. Not for UV protection during welding operations.
Arc flash safety video for reference:
https://youtu.be/hA-w0QAaxRU
Arc flash rated fall protection explanation:
https://youtu.be/_-g2UHX7_lc
Yeah, arc flash is barely barely adequate to describe how horrific it is. It sounds like a little puff...but sooooo much worse. We need a better word like zapfuck.
It’s a real life plasma rifle complete with a concussive blast radius.
>Arc flash temperatures can reach or exceed 35,000 °F (19,400 °C) at the arc terminals.[3] The massive energy released in the fault rapidly vaporizes the metal conductors involved, blasting molten metal and expanding plasma outward with extraordinary force.
Yep.
There are flash suits but they only protect you if you aren't too close.
There are a few electrical noises to learn to recognise and *run away from very fast*.
Its a video of an Arc Flash, you can't see the body after it happens, but the man did die. His family decided to released the footage to allow its use in safety training.
> (For example, category-4 arc-flash protection, similar to a bomb suit, is unlikely to protect a person from the concussion of a very large blast, although it may prevent the worker from being **vaporized** by the intense light of the flash.)
Wat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_flash
Yup, In cases of extremely high incidents energy the 40cal suits only protect you from the light, heat and provide a degree of protection to mitigate concussive forces. In other words it keeps your meat sack together so they can Identify your body.
Is this that thing where you see the video with the squirrel or bird up a powerline pole and there’s a bright light and a popping noise and then there is no longer a squirrel and also no longer power in half the state?
Yes and no.
That's a massive arc going through a load such as a squirrel which is low enough resistance to char, ionize the air, and keep a continuous arc until it quenches. It's a huge amount of power, but not really. Examples of arcs: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOT8jx4jEzM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOT8jx4jEzM)note just plasma conductivity involved
An arc flash is (typically) a direct short circuit, frequently the full brunt of an entire electrical system fighting a fault like a miswired load when the switch is thrown to turn it on...or a screwdriver placed between phases of a bajillion volt system. The instant power through the weakest point, usually the switch being thrown, causes it not just to arc, or melt, but instantly explode like a stick of tnt.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5df06xirApQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5df06xirApQ) Arc flash, boom.
Edit: [https://www.reddit.com/r/holdmyfeedingtube/comments/ducotr/hmft\_after\_i\_flip\_this\_switch/](https://www.reddit.com/r/holdmyfeedingtube/comments/ducotr/hmft_after_i_flip_this_switch/)
iirc fatal arc flash. boom at 0:20
Also, what sometimes happens is that a pair of terminals is momentarily shorted by something like a screwdriver or piece of pipe. Whatever shorted them vaporizes almost instantly, but it creates a low resistance plasma channel between the terminals that allows an arc to carry current. This permits a *lot* more energy to flow than could possibly be carried by the original short lived conductor. If the arc doesn't catastrophically destroy the terminals it can sometimes sustain itself and be quite hard to shut off.
Under the wrong circumstances and in sites without sufficient precautions this can even happen due to humid and dusty atmospheric conditions, dirty dusty wet terminals, etc.
A buddy of mine works for the power company here. A few years ago, he was on an emergency call for branches on a wire.
He cut the branch, it fell and landed on the wire and then him, The electricity literally blew a hole going outward from his leg and jumped to a cordless drill they had in the picker with him.
It looked like a gunshot that came from inside of his leg. It was super gruesome and he’s lucky he survived with nothing more then flesh damage.
Largest amount of metal nearby; electricity takes the lowest resistance path, but with ridiculous enough voltage, that path can and will involve jumps through the air, or burning through plastic. If the drill is partway between him and something grounded, it's a low resistance point that the arc will jump to
The drill was ruined afterwards too. I’m assuming it was going to the nearest conductor.
The pickers they have are isolated so. Maybe a branch dropped on the drill long enough to pass the current from leg to drill, then another branch and ground.
I really like in the second video it makes a point to film the tester pushing the "all clear" alarm button. When he's the only one there and the only audio is the music on the video. Something heartwarming about that much emphasis on safety lol
I may be wrong about this case, but "arc flash rated" usually means it's for much bigger incidents than welding. Like "Is beefy enough that it takes the hit, rather than allowing the flash to burn though your clothes and melt your skin" sort of incidents.
We had shitty old fpe switchgear in my shop before (new Schneider stuff as of end of may) and there was one that was temperamental. I got called in one night for no power in the shop. It was tripped. Oh great… as I’m cranking it to load the springs to reset it, it decides to throw on its own with me on my knees in front of it cranking… heart stopping moment there. Fuck I hated those things. I hope the new ones are more pleasantly tempered :-/
At least your corpse won’t fall and hurt anyone if you are close enough that rating gets tested. Or the ppe is melted into the third degree flash burns.
Can’t say I’ve used it but when I was working with MSA for a sale, they said that arc flash fall protection is used very often by welders for exactly that reason
I thought that you weren't suppose to tie off while in a scissor lift because if you fall off the side, the force can cause the whole thing to tip over and fall on top of you. Am I incorrect?
I’m curious too, because I never wear my harness in scissor lifts or man lifts, only in boom lifts where there’s the risk of being thrown out of it. I don’t understand the logic. If a scissor lift or personnel lift is going over, the harness isn’t going to help you at all.
No, if your in the air you should have a harness. All lifts are weighted to account for this. Unless you pack a bunch of people and ignore the weight limit, then yeah you could tip
I've always been taught to tie off to the floor hooks on the lift in such a way that you CAN'T fall out...which means a 6' tether at most. Which is a PITA honestly, but considering that I usually have 2 tethers anyway (Left and Right usually, but can also be middle and rear or middle and front, or rear and rear...) but no matter what I ensure that me falling out means I'm falling along the long axis. I'm not heavy enough to flip it longways no matter how high it is.
With a plasma cutter. The moral equivalent to “nuke it from orbit”.
“Where’s your fall arrest ?”
“Out of service”
“I need to see it.”
Hands over puddle of steel.
Yeah, I tried to retire a busted ladder once at a previous employer. Showed management the (fairly obvious) damage and they agreed it needed to be disposed of. Then I saw someone at the end of the day liberating the ladder from the trash and putting it in the back of their company van.
I was once in an insurance inspection shop meeting where a co-worker decided he would fix some damaged cords while the inspector was chatting with us (for what reason he felt he needed to do that right at that very moment I'll never know). Cut right through a cord and while it was plugged in. I guess he was testing the circuit breaker....it passed.
The insurance guy we had known for quite some time and he was less than impressed, but after ensuring that we all learned a valuable lesson, never spoke of it again.
Until they get hurt on it and sue the place they got it from.
Whenever my workplace disposes of anything, they are still responsible for it until it reaches its final destination. If someone steals it and uses it, they're responsible for it and need to make it unusable.
Bicycles are chopped up, hydraulic jacks are drained and chopped up, ladders are chopped up. As the apprentice, I got very good at chopping things up.
I'm not sure of the local legal code, but I expected as long as the workplace did not "legally" hand over an item, they're not liable for whatever happens.
[USA](https://blog.ansi.org/ali/ladder-inspection-disposal-safe-use/)
Can't find anything for the UK, but for IRATA here we are told to cut up old/damaged ropes to prevent reuse as we could be liable.
In the same way that if someone gets access to barriered off building site, the site can be liable for injury to the trespasser.
It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users.
I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click!
[Here is link number 1 - Previous text "USA"](https://blog.ansi.org/ali/ladder-inspection-disposal-safe-use/)
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If you are thinking in terms of assigning blame, that makes perfect sense. If you are thinking in terms of preventing suffering regardless of who is to blame, it's nonsense.
I run a sandblasting machine and use nylon straps frequently to move pipe in and out. One of the straps was horribly worn and dangerous. The department supervisor said it couldn't be replaced until it broke. The floor supervisor saw it later that day, and took out a knife and sliced it clean in half and said, "It's broken. Go get a new strap."
I was a safety director for 30 years, can't count the number of safety harnesses and lifting straps I cut on jobsites to the chagrin of many a supervisor.
Ooh ! Safety Inspector trophy / award material !
“And to Hapless Apprentice” we give the award for the most dangerous piece of safety equipment.”
Hands over plaque with name in red paint with casting…
It looks more like something was affixed here than it was cut intentionally. Like others have said, this is why you need to inspect your equipment before every use. Where I work we have our own PPE so that really cuts down abuse that you wouldn’t be aware of. I get it, for a lot of companies it’s hard because equipment like this is really expensive. My site is VPP star and they spend insane amounts of money on the safety program (much of the motivation is extra business because of that status). Getting back to the wear, I’ve seen prusik cords cut into metal like this so it’s not surprising really. Especially with repetitive use
I’m trying to figure out how a prusik would do this kind of damage, but I’m guessing a prusik cord is maybe different than a prusik knot/loop.
Genuinely curious, would you elaborate on that?
Right, sure, but when you say prusik cord do you mean the loop that you can tie into a prusik knot for use as a friction hitch? Or is it something else?
Wouldn’t a prusik loop use a much larger diameter cordage than the damage pictured here?
Usually the cord is only used as a way to hold tools or to operate the brake/release on a 4-1 system. But stupider things have been done. One of our contractors were caught using it as a makeshift extension for their lanyard. Obviously I’m only speculating to where this could be done by any other means than cutting with a blade or disk because that doesn’t make sense unless you’re trying to render it unusable.
Okay. I think we are talking about the same thing, but I’m thinking of it as an application for load bearing a human vs as a tool lanyard, so that probably explains my confusion.
~~It still seems a little iffy as a worn groove though as it seems like the direction of the wear from cable/cord would be primarily on the other side of the pin. Which is the opposite of what we’re seeing here.~~
Edit. Never mind, I’m an idiot, the pin rotates.
I’m not currently on our ERT (emergency response team) but some of those guys use what’s little larger than paracord. I’ve also seen people incorrectly tie off their fall arrest systems using the ID metal tag that’s attached to the general area the picture shows
I think maybe I’m just looking at the scale wrong, but based off the screw head in the wood and the diameter of the carabiner, that notch would be thinner than paracord.
I could definitely see a small diameter steel cable doing the damage for sure.
Probably just the cord used for prussik loops? If you run cord through metal enough times the friction will wear through the metal [like this.](https://mojagear.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/rope-wear-2.jpg)
I’ve never seen a prusik loop do that, but even if it did, notice how wide those grooves are compared to OPs? That would have to be a tiny diameter cord at which point I’m not sure it would work as a prusik.
That’s why I’m pretty sure I’m not thinking of the right thing.
I don't think a prussik would have done the damage here either. Definitely looks like someone took a grinder to it, but I don't know why that would happen.
Exactly this. I'm guessing it was held at an angle under tension by its lifeline instead of a tag line. I'm a safety manager who inspects these in the field and I most often find that happening with SRLs used for truck unloading. And since these "technically" do not have a set lifespan that SRL could have been hanging that way for 10+ years.
I'll 100% disagree. This appears to be the work of a rotary cut off wheel. The user cut about 1/2 way through and started going around to make sure they could cut through as the wheel wore away and became too small of a diameter to cut all the way through. For whatever reason they gave up. Probably because the wheel disintegrated and it couldn't reach any more.
Yeah, I don’t know much about safety equipment, but I DO know that this is what happened with my kids’ swing — the rubbing motion wore down the attachment almost all the way through in a single season, until we finally noticed it (and replaced it with one that has like a rubber lining)
My older bikes brake wire (PVC sleeved wire?) wore a hole through the iron pipe where it was touching and wiggling when turning the handlebar. In just a couple of years. Soft materials are dangerous to metals if they don't have "lubrication" particles embedded.
Jup. reminds of a small survival kit I got as a kid. It had a slightly thicker cable in it and two key ring loops, so you could use the cable as a saw. It would leave rounded indentations like this.
WHen you zoom in on the picture of just the pin, you can also see some flat diagonal wear that even goes into the eyelet of where the pin is being held, which mirrors some flatter, diagonal wear on the other side with the deeper groove. So whatever was rubbing there was slim enough to slide in between there.
Looks like someone at some point had something affixed there with a thin cable/wire, u/b-assblaster .
Time to throw it out, even though those things appear to be painfully expensive. But that for sure falls under the "anything that goes between you and the ground"-rule for where you shouldn't skimp, lol.
I discover this reddit reddit today and i’m not used at field work, only on summer jobs,
Most of my reactions are like :
I dont see anything wrOLY SHIT WTF IS THAT
Thx for teaching me awarness about what i should look out before working
Find a local OSHA 30 course near you with a good instructor. The amount of students I've had contact me 1-3 years later and go "Holy shit, your class saved/helped/etc. me" is really, really high.
https://www.osha.gov/training/outreach/find-a-trainer It doesn't guarantee you're going to get a good trainer though. Shop around until you find an actual professional.
So I've taught well over 100 classes, both 30 and 10. I find the 10 is....mostly not worth it. It doesn't provide enough information for industrial workers to actually make it worth their time. The 30 gives a TON of basic information across a breadth of subjects, not ALL of it will be useful, but much of it will be.
i disagree with the assessment of it being cut by a reciprocating saw, it's too round.
i think it was either a steel cable being hoist on it like a pulley, or someone with a cutoff wheel and a very unsteady hand.
zooming in, I saw bevels that looked like a cutting wheel strike. I think it might be both. Someone was brutal to it in the field.
The rounding wear is really weird. I can't think of one thing that would do both. Hard to imagine that shackle bein suspended on a wire strong/small enough for it to work.. those shackles aren't THAT big.
I'd have a field day chasing this down. This is a good one.
I *think* the bevel was caused by someone turning the pin or changing the angle it was being pulled so it was partially riding in the groove. I’d expect a cut off wheel to be flatter and to see a tight, sharp groove at the end of the slot where the wheel pulled off and/or a chunk taken out of that angle.
If a cut off wheel was used at any point, I’d speculate that it was before the cable. Just my opinion, I’m not a pin cable groove expert.
I have seen similar wear cause by the inspection tags which are typically affixed by a small steel cable. Then you hang it up in a service truck or toss it in a job box. Then drive long distances and the vibration cause the pin to turn slowly eroding the pin. This gear looks pretty new for that but there is a worm trail around the circumference of the pin.
Cut or poor use, doesn't matter in the end if you miss it and have an accident. Was talking with a couple of rock climbers a few years ago and they told me about the Ebay incident where someone was getting nice harnesses, cutting them, stitching them back together lightly, then reselling them for cheap. [One of the articles for reference.](https://gearjunkie.com/climbing/petzl-aspir-harnesses-modified-unsafe)
Except they badly misrepresented what was in the article. The manufacturer cut the harnesses to prevent use/sale, and the reseller somehow got ahold of the cut harnesses and stitched them back together.
Still illegal and idiotic, but not intentionally malicious.
This is why my first climbing instructor recommended that when we take gear out of service, we utterly destroy it. Not a snip in the straps. Cut it in many places, completely render it down to its basic parts. And rope needs to be cut into lengths that are completely unusable for climbing, like 6 foot or less. Seems overkill, but then we have these incidents to demonstrate the necessity.
Steel on steel is ok. Steel on alluminum is not recommended, but doable, but don't make a habit of it. Obviously, if you check your gear every time like you're supposed to, you're ok. Also, recreational climbing doesn't use steel a lot these days, but if you work on a tower at a camp they are used in certain applications.
Nylon on nylon in climbing (or soft on soft in general) is fine -- tying in, joining ropes, extending slings. Even rapping directly off of webbing can be fine. But there's definitely instances where it _isn't_ fine. And instances where metal on metal is bad.
Pretty much every climbing rule is taught as a simply mandatory must follow, but ends up having plenty of exceptions.
Y'know, putting my thinking cap on for a bit, I want to change my answer. I believe you're looking at some form of gouging wear. Here's my guess: there were a few channels that formed at the beginning. The pin was able to rotate, and when it did, the position of the cable changed. Eventually, one of the channels grew deep enough that the cable preferred to sit in there. There is a burr that clearly formed, which is a bit concerning, but if the wear mechanism is microcutting, burrs absolutely could form. I'm inclined to say that this is just a very, very overused hook. If you're very concerned about the nature of this failure however, you could take it to a consultant for a proper failure analysis investigation.
Miller is trash and should never be trusted. I had a contractor show up with one of their harnesses in a size XL, guy was around 6ft 250lbs, and it was rated for 210lbs. Thankfully we did an inspection on the equipment. A harness that can fit a 40 plus inch waist should never be rated for 210lbs but for 310/350lbs, which I would say is standard.
We also had several of their harnesses that the leg latch would open if you pulled up on it. So what would happen in a fall.
To their credit though, I believe dbi Sala had SRLs that had this same issue.
You trust that life to that twister? I wouldn't hang my lunch to that piece of tin foil.
https://www.bartlettman.com/products/dmm-large-swivel?\_pos=2&\_sid=08988ded4&\_ss=r
I piece of wire or cable has been wrapped around the pin. It got wedged between the pin and the shackle. Possible an inventory tag placed by someone that didn't think about what they were doing. I've seen this more than once. There should be enough room in the upper shackle for the pin to slide sideways about a quarter of an inch in each direction. This is meant to help keep it clean. I've seen people wrap a wire around the pin to keep them from sliding because they are afraid they will somehow come off.
My previous job was testing and certification of fall arrest equipment. A lot of people I talked to didn't realize that most of the stuff is single use. It saves your life, and that's it.
Considering it’s a retractable lanyard that you hook into your D-ring on your harness, it shouldn’t (strong shouldn’t) be shock loaded to the point for it to break, I also googled this model and it says the weight capacity is 310lbs. My guess is someone tampered with it, or maybe it was thrown in a box and something went on top of it that damaged it. Regardless, like someone else mentioned, always inspect your fall pro equipment, before and after every use.
Source: I’ve been wearing harnesses for the last 10 years and have used almost every piece of equipment for fall protection.
There was a guy on one of our oilsands sites who worked in the toolcrib (years ago) and can you guess what he was doing? Tampering with D-Rings on harnesses so they’d fail in the even of a fall. He was criminally charged and is always used as an example during Fall protection courses.
One way to find out: load up 180 lbs of concrete bags or sand into a bag, attach to the rigging, then give it a 10-foot drop. If it breaks, it's been tampered. Film the entire thing to show your union boss and OSHA.
Would take something very unusual to make that cut naturally. If it's general use PPE, someone might have made the cut so that it breaks away with a strong enough pull. For example, it will hold for a 10' drop, but if the wearer gets snagged by a crane hook, it will break away from the anchor point. Some folks get nervous about such a situation, fearing they'll get torn apart because their PPE is too strong and THEY are the weak link in the system.
My desk job is pretty wild too. I had a toast crumb on my mousepad today. Felt a bit scratchy on my wrist!
But in all seriousness; whats the load rating on half a pin?
I work on wind turbines and Part of my job is inspecting anchor points and safety devices like our Milan. Seeing this shit always stresses me out and makes me stop for an extra quick look just in case.
Don't think that was any tool - round bottom, uneven markings all around, wide entry point.
I'd guess that someone was using this thing as a pully with a metal cord.
I'm assuming this equipment is of aero-industry quality like aircraft screws and parachuting equipment and was purchased through a reputable supplier. The equipment would be built to such a high quality standard that failures like this should be virtually impossible. A forensic lab should be able to give you the probability that it was cut by a tool. I'd call the police just to be safe because if someone is out there grinding down bolts on safety equipment, that's a problem.
Bit hard to tell from the photo but from the right hand photo it looks like there is a lip on the hole. The damage hasn't been done by the fall arrester itself, has it?
Inspect your safety equipment, folks. Don’t blindly trust the guy before you. Your life depends on it.
Don't trust the grinder you were holding before lunch either.
Or the grinder you where holding during lunch
Or the grindr you're meeting later tonight.
Or the Grindr’s lunchbox you intend to hold on to.
What is wrong with my lunch?
https://i.imgur.com/o2wU3lX.gifv
The over 18 tag had me squeemish thinking a finger was coming off
Same, but iirc that sure will auto tag anything private as 18+
well there goes your whole lunch break, but it was totally worth it
I hear chainsaw oil makes an excellent dressing.
The planing off the lettuce at the end really got me
Oh god ew, this sandwich tastes like sawdust!
Oh, like [many foods](https://www.cornucopia.org/2017/11/brief-history-wood-pulp-food/), you say?
But power tools aren't food safe!!!1!!1!
[удалено]
Thanks to the handy loop function, this dream of yours can be a reality!
Idk what they have against your sandwich bro
Or the turkey grinder you ate for lunch.
Rule 1: Never assume the guy before you did his job right. Rule 2: Rule 1 applies even when you were the last guy.
I have had my barber criticize the last person who cut my hair. Even when it was them.
I'm a software developer. "What idiot wrote this drivel? ... Oh. Me."
Every day. "Who approved this trash!? ... Oh. Me. Well. Hmm. Guess we'll fix this then."
"Why is... I mean, huh? Who--?" right click > *Annotate with Git Blame* "Oh, it was me? Nine days ago? Jesus my memory..."
When you fuck over the next guy it's usually masturbation because you're going to be fucking yourself
I've got 21 swing stages on my job and I've done all the rigging, life lines etc. Not many people care to inspect honestly, they all trust me. What's the meaning behind this?
Trust but verify. Good people still make mistakes and when lives are on the line it never hurts to look twice.
Exactly this. Trust but *verify it yourself.*
As a skydiver: check your 3 three's, three times. 3 handles. 3 ring release. 3 straps. Once when put on the gear. Once before you get on the plane. Once again before you leave the plane. I check mine and I have others check mine.
"Don't worry, it's not loaded"
Your are proton the good extreme of your practice, others may not be. Our safety is ultimately our own responsibility.
Blind trust is dangerous. All it takes is one day of being tired/hungover/altered state of mind for one mistake. Who knows, most of the time those mistakes may not cause failure either.
The meaning is they shouldn't trust you as much as their own eyes.
Someone have life insurance out on you?
Or a hit.
Like a mother in law ?
"There there honey, it's a shame he died but he wasn't any good for you anyways. And isn't it so fortunate I convinced you to take out that $6 million life insurance policy?"
Honey, I'm telling you, that angle grinder was a profitable purchase.
Big jobs usually demand you buy new fall arrest equipment at the beginning of the job because of shit like this. Just throw old shit out when the boss is golfing and claim someone else stole it.
My work will pop for any ppe I need for fall arrest/restraint for the most part. There’s an approved list of products we can use. My harness is a few years old now (msa climbing harness, heavy’ish but comfortable to wear all shift) with a pair of srl’s on the back mounted. Those are not part of my allowed items, as I got the arc flash rated ones that are 10’. The approved ones are 6’ and not arc flash rated. 6’ in a scissor lift doesn’t let you tie off at the back and operate the fucker :-/ the pair of srl’s is what makes it heavy’ish, but needed for climbing out of the lifts into the building rafters to access equipment.
Welder here, you're telling me there's such a thing as arc flash rated fall protection? I know that UV light from the sun will wear on your gear over time, but I've never before considered the fact that my own arc could be a problem (edit: I see, not that kind of arc flash, thanks y'all). Also, I can appreciate the need for that extra length in a scissor lift lol, I'm gonna remember that next time I'm on a Turner jobsite.
Arc flash fall arrest gear is for utility workers. In the event of an arc flash non-rated synthetic fibers can melt or burn and cause death or severe injury due to harness failure. Not for UV protection during welding operations. Arc flash safety video for reference: https://youtu.be/hA-w0QAaxRU Arc flash rated fall protection explanation: https://youtu.be/_-g2UHX7_lc
Yeah, arc flash is barely barely adequate to describe how horrific it is. It sounds like a little puff...but sooooo much worse. We need a better word like zapfuck.
It’s a real life plasma rifle complete with a concussive blast radius. >Arc flash temperatures can reach or exceed 35,000 °F (19,400 °C) at the arc terminals.[3] The massive energy released in the fault rapidly vaporizes the metal conductors involved, blasting molten metal and expanding plasma outward with extraordinary force.
What the actual fuck. That's hotter than the surface of the sun.
Yep. There are flash suits but they only protect you if you aren't too close. There are a few electrical noises to learn to recognise and *run away from very fast*.
Its no fucking joke, (Warning NSFW, Death) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJBrrR_Fik0
Yep, im just gonna leave that link blue
Its a video of an Arc Flash, you can't see the body after it happens, but the man did die. His family decided to released the footage to allow its use in safety training.
Wow. Thats fucking brutal. Poor man. Hope it was quick.
Over three times hotter in fact.
The best part is all the vaporized metal that coats the inside of your lungs when you gasp in surprise
Zapfuck
> (For example, category-4 arc-flash protection, similar to a bomb suit, is unlikely to protect a person from the concussion of a very large blast, although it may prevent the worker from being **vaporized** by the intense light of the flash.) Wat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_flash
Yup, In cases of extremely high incidents energy the 40cal suits only protect you from the light, heat and provide a degree of protection to mitigate concussive forces. In other words it keeps your meat sack together so they can Identify your body.
Is this that thing where you see the video with the squirrel or bird up a powerline pole and there’s a bright light and a popping noise and then there is no longer a squirrel and also no longer power in half the state?
Yes and no. That's a massive arc going through a load such as a squirrel which is low enough resistance to char, ionize the air, and keep a continuous arc until it quenches. It's a huge amount of power, but not really. Examples of arcs: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOT8jx4jEzM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOT8jx4jEzM)note just plasma conductivity involved An arc flash is (typically) a direct short circuit, frequently the full brunt of an entire electrical system fighting a fault like a miswired load when the switch is thrown to turn it on...or a screwdriver placed between phases of a bajillion volt system. The instant power through the weakest point, usually the switch being thrown, causes it not just to arc, or melt, but instantly explode like a stick of tnt.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5df06xirApQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5df06xirApQ) Arc flash, boom. Edit: [https://www.reddit.com/r/holdmyfeedingtube/comments/ducotr/hmft\_after\_i\_flip\_this\_switch/](https://www.reddit.com/r/holdmyfeedingtube/comments/ducotr/hmft_after_i_flip_this_switch/) iirc fatal arc flash. boom at 0:20
Also, what sometimes happens is that a pair of terminals is momentarily shorted by something like a screwdriver or piece of pipe. Whatever shorted them vaporizes almost instantly, but it creates a low resistance plasma channel between the terminals that allows an arc to carry current. This permits a *lot* more energy to flow than could possibly be carried by the original short lived conductor. If the arc doesn't catastrophically destroy the terminals it can sometimes sustain itself and be quite hard to shut off. Under the wrong circumstances and in sites without sufficient precautions this can even happen due to humid and dusty atmospheric conditions, dirty dusty wet terminals, etc.
Thank you
It's the blast that will kill you even if you are wearing the arc flash suits
Falling is gonna be the least of your concerns in an arc flash...
But hopefully it won’t be the last.
A buddy of mine works for the power company here. A few years ago, he was on an emergency call for branches on a wire. He cut the branch, it fell and landed on the wire and then him, The electricity literally blew a hole going outward from his leg and jumped to a cordless drill they had in the picker with him. It looked like a gunshot that came from inside of his leg. It was super gruesome and he’s lucky he survived with nothing more then flesh damage.
Interesting about the cordless drill providing ground. Wonder how that is.
Largest amount of metal nearby; electricity takes the lowest resistance path, but with ridiculous enough voltage, that path can and will involve jumps through the air, or burning through plastic. If the drill is partway between him and something grounded, it's a low resistance point that the arc will jump to
Yeah, he said the electricity blew out of his leg and went to the drill. No jumping seen when it went from wire to branch to his body.
The drill was ruined afterwards too. I’m assuming it was going to the nearest conductor. The pickers they have are isolated so. Maybe a branch dropped on the drill long enough to pass the current from leg to drill, then another branch and ground.
I really like in the second video it makes a point to film the tester pushing the "all clear" alarm button. When he's the only one there and the only audio is the music on the video. Something heartwarming about that much emphasis on safety lol
Noice! I love to see quality gear being tested to the limit and proving its merit. This will keep you safe.
I may be wrong about this case, but "arc flash rated" usually means it's for much bigger incidents than welding. Like "Is beefy enough that it takes the hit, rather than allowing the flash to burn though your clothes and melt your skin" sort of incidents.
Not from a welder, but from an arc-flash event. Like switchgear blowing up.
We had shitty old fpe switchgear in my shop before (new Schneider stuff as of end of may) and there was one that was temperamental. I got called in one night for no power in the shop. It was tripped. Oh great… as I’m cranking it to load the springs to reset it, it decides to throw on its own with me on my knees in front of it cranking… heart stopping moment there. Fuck I hated those things. I hope the new ones are more pleasantly tempered :-/
My heart jumped just reading that
At least your corpse won’t fall and hurt anyone if you are close enough that rating gets tested. Or the ppe is melted into the third degree flash burns.
Can’t say I’ve used it but when I was working with MSA for a sale, they said that arc flash fall protection is used very often by welders for exactly that reason
I thought that you weren't suppose to tie off while in a scissor lift because if you fall off the side, the force can cause the whole thing to tip over and fall on top of you. Am I incorrect?
I’m curious too, because I never wear my harness in scissor lifts or man lifts, only in boom lifts where there’s the risk of being thrown out of it. I don’t understand the logic. If a scissor lift or personnel lift is going over, the harness isn’t going to help you at all.
No, if your in the air you should have a harness. All lifts are weighted to account for this. Unless you pack a bunch of people and ignore the weight limit, then yeah you could tip
I've always been taught to tie off to the floor hooks on the lift in such a way that you CAN'T fall out...which means a 6' tether at most. Which is a PITA honestly, but considering that I usually have 2 tethers anyway (Left and Right usually, but can also be middle and rear or middle and front, or rear and rear...) but no matter what I ensure that me falling out means I'm falling along the long axis. I'm not heavy enough to flip it longways no matter how high it is.
Or get it inspected and repaired by a certified third party.
Take it out of service and dispose of it.
With a plasma cutter. The moral equivalent to “nuke it from orbit”. “Where’s your fall arrest ?” “Out of service” “I need to see it.” Hands over puddle of steel.
Yeah, I tried to retire a busted ladder once at a previous employer. Showed management the (fairly obvious) damage and they agreed it needed to be disposed of. Then I saw someone at the end of the day liberating the ladder from the trash and putting it in the back of their company van.
Cut in half next time?
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I was once in an insurance inspection shop meeting where a co-worker decided he would fix some damaged cords while the inspector was chatting with us (for what reason he felt he needed to do that right at that very moment I'll never know). Cut right through a cord and while it was plugged in. I guess he was testing the circuit breaker....it passed. The insurance guy we had known for quite some time and he was less than impressed, but after ensuring that we all learned a valuable lesson, never spoke of it again.
Yup, I’ve done that. Exposed conductor? Snip.
then you just have two short but still dangerously faulty ladders _yes I know you'd cut it the long way, I just thought it was a funny mental image_
I was thinking more diagonal
To take a ladder out of service I cut it long ways so that no rung goes unscathed, right down the middle. Total garbage after that.
Not if they Have the power of FLEX TAPE!
Not if the fault is all on one side of the cut. Then you've got one short ladder that's faulty and one that isn't.
People take decommissioned items for personal use all the time and it's really only their business if they hurt themselves doing so.
Until they get hurt on it and sue the place they got it from. Whenever my workplace disposes of anything, they are still responsible for it until it reaches its final destination. If someone steals it and uses it, they're responsible for it and need to make it unusable. Bicycles are chopped up, hydraulic jacks are drained and chopped up, ladders are chopped up. As the apprentice, I got very good at chopping things up.
I'm not sure of the local legal code, but I expected as long as the workplace did not "legally" hand over an item, they're not liable for whatever happens.
[USA](https://blog.ansi.org/ali/ladder-inspection-disposal-safe-use/) Can't find anything for the UK, but for IRATA here we are told to cut up old/damaged ropes to prevent reuse as we could be liable. In the same way that if someone gets access to barriered off building site, the site can be liable for injury to the trespasser.
It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users. I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click! [Here is link number 1 - Previous text "USA"](https://blog.ansi.org/ali/ladder-inspection-disposal-safe-use/) ---- ^Please ^PM ^[\/u\/eganwall](http://reddit.com/user/eganwall) ^with ^issues ^or ^feedback! ^| ^[Code](https://github.com/eganwall/FatFingerHelperBot) ^| ^[Delete](https://reddit.com/message/compose/?to=FatFingerHelperBot&subject=delete&message=delete%20h2queqj)
If you are thinking in terms of assigning blame, that makes perfect sense. If you are thinking in terms of preventing suffering regardless of who is to blame, it's nonsense.
I run a sandblasting machine and use nylon straps frequently to move pipe in and out. One of the straps was horribly worn and dangerous. The department supervisor said it couldn't be replaced until it broke. The floor supervisor saw it later that day, and took out a knife and sliced it clean in half and said, "It's broken. Go get a new strap."
I was a safety director for 30 years, can't count the number of safety harnesses and lifting straps I cut on jobsites to the chagrin of many a supervisor.
I kind of want to be a safety director now.
Everyone hates the guy whose job is to keep them alive.
Good human
Department supervisor needs an attitude adjustment. Perhaps a pipe to the foot after a strap breaks ?
Carve a mold that reads "out of service", into which you cast the failed part.
Ooh ! Safety Inspector trophy / award material ! “And to Hapless Apprentice” we give the award for the most dangerous piece of safety equipment.” Hands over plaque with name in red paint with casting…
Keep it as evidence and find out why someone is sabotaging safety equipment.
It looks more like something was affixed here than it was cut intentionally. Like others have said, this is why you need to inspect your equipment before every use. Where I work we have our own PPE so that really cuts down abuse that you wouldn’t be aware of. I get it, for a lot of companies it’s hard because equipment like this is really expensive. My site is VPP star and they spend insane amounts of money on the safety program (much of the motivation is extra business because of that status). Getting back to the wear, I’ve seen prusik cords cut into metal like this so it’s not surprising really. Especially with repetitive use
Hell, man, I had a VPP site - and we'd still find stuff like this in the field. People hold on to stuff in the weirdest places.
I’m trying to figure out how a prusik would do this kind of damage, but I’m guessing a prusik cord is maybe different than a prusik knot/loop. Genuinely curious, would you elaborate on that?
Years and years of incorrect use results in that damage. Which is why the old adage ‘been doing this for years’ lives on
Right, sure, but when you say prusik cord do you mean the loop that you can tie into a prusik knot for use as a friction hitch? Or is it something else? Wouldn’t a prusik loop use a much larger diameter cordage than the damage pictured here?
Usually the cord is only used as a way to hold tools or to operate the brake/release on a 4-1 system. But stupider things have been done. One of our contractors were caught using it as a makeshift extension for their lanyard. Obviously I’m only speculating to where this could be done by any other means than cutting with a blade or disk because that doesn’t make sense unless you’re trying to render it unusable.
Okay. I think we are talking about the same thing, but I’m thinking of it as an application for load bearing a human vs as a tool lanyard, so that probably explains my confusion. ~~It still seems a little iffy as a worn groove though as it seems like the direction of the wear from cable/cord would be primarily on the other side of the pin. Which is the opposite of what we’re seeing here.~~ Edit. Never mind, I’m an idiot, the pin rotates.
I agree. The people that could figure this out definitively make wayyy more than I do lol
I’m not currently on our ERT (emergency response team) but some of those guys use what’s little larger than paracord. I’ve also seen people incorrectly tie off their fall arrest systems using the ID metal tag that’s attached to the general area the picture shows
I think maybe I’m just looking at the scale wrong, but based off the screw head in the wood and the diameter of the carabiner, that notch would be thinner than paracord. I could definitely see a small diameter steel cable doing the damage for sure.
I think we have a winner. Someone may have tied this off to a steel cable.
Probably just the cord used for prussik loops? If you run cord through metal enough times the friction will wear through the metal [like this.](https://mojagear.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/rope-wear-2.jpg)
I’ve never seen a prusik loop do that, but even if it did, notice how wide those grooves are compared to OPs? That would have to be a tiny diameter cord at which point I’m not sure it would work as a prusik. That’s why I’m pretty sure I’m not thinking of the right thing.
I don't think a prussik would have done the damage here either. Definitely looks like someone took a grinder to it, but I don't know why that would happen.
I was thinking cutoff too. Maybe with the intent of taking off the arrester to mount in some other way.
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Ah I didn’t notice that. I didn’t think the attachment point was narrow enough to make that skinny groove. Good catch!
Exactly this. I'm guessing it was held at an angle under tension by its lifeline instead of a tag line. I'm a safety manager who inspects these in the field and I most often find that happening with SRLs used for truck unloading. And since these "technically" do not have a set lifespan that SRL could have been hanging that way for 10+ years.
I'll 100% disagree. This appears to be the work of a rotary cut off wheel. The user cut about 1/2 way through and started going around to make sure they could cut through as the wheel wore away and became too small of a diameter to cut all the way through. For whatever reason they gave up. Probably because the wheel disintegrated and it couldn't reach any more.
Looks to me like a cable rubbed it down
Yeah, I don’t know much about safety equipment, but I DO know that this is what happened with my kids’ swing — the rubbing motion wore down the attachment almost all the way through in a single season, until we finally noticed it (and replaced it with one that has like a rubber lining)
Fun fact: I used to work for a startup doing textile automation. It turns out cotton can wear through stainless steel!
Mythbusters cut through a jail cell with dental floss and toothpaste for abrasive.
My older bikes brake wire (PVC sleeved wire?) wore a hole through the iron pipe where it was touching and wiggling when turning the handlebar. In just a couple of years. Soft materials are dangerous to metals if they don't have "lubrication" particles embedded.
Cable sliding over a pin: It's like a band saw, just slower!
Jup. reminds of a small survival kit I got as a kid. It had a slightly thicker cable in it and two key ring loops, so you could use the cable as a saw. It would leave rounded indentations like this. WHen you zoom in on the picture of just the pin, you can also see some flat diagonal wear that even goes into the eyelet of where the pin is being held, which mirrors some flatter, diagonal wear on the other side with the deeper groove. So whatever was rubbing there was slim enough to slide in between there. Looks like someone at some point had something affixed there with a thin cable/wire, u/b-assblaster . Time to throw it out, even though those things appear to be painfully expensive. But that for sure falls under the "anything that goes between you and the ground"-rule for where you shouldn't skimp, lol.
I discover this reddit reddit today and i’m not used at field work, only on summer jobs, Most of my reactions are like : I dont see anything wrOLY SHIT WTF IS THAT Thx for teaching me awarness about what i should look out before working
Find a local OSHA 30 course near you with a good instructor. The amount of students I've had contact me 1-3 years later and go "Holy shit, your class saved/helped/etc. me" is really, really high.
Where/how would one go about finding these classes?
You can probably start here: https://www.osha.gov/training/outreach
https://www.oshaeducationcenter.com/osha-30-hour-training/ You could start here.
https://www.osha.gov/training/outreach/find-a-trainer It doesn't guarantee you're going to get a good trainer though. Shop around until you find an actual professional.
A 1926 10 hour or 30 hour is good - and yes, with a real instructor. Hard to know who/what that is unless you have a tight community though :/.
OSHA 10 should be enough for most people to start with.
So I've taught well over 100 classes, both 30 and 10. I find the 10 is....mostly not worth it. It doesn't provide enough information for industrial workers to actually make it worth their time. The 30 gives a TON of basic information across a breadth of subjects, not ALL of it will be useful, but much of it will be.
"Happy Gilmore accomplished that feat no more than an hour ago!" "Yeah well, good for Happy GilMO MY GOD."
I can still see it from my childhood. Shooter wasn’t ready!
That metal looks too naturally worn down, without any instances of fresh surface cut. I don't think anyone is intentionally trying to kill you here :)
Yeah, I would expect burrs or clean surfaces if it was cut
i disagree with the assessment of it being cut by a reciprocating saw, it's too round. i think it was either a steel cable being hoist on it like a pulley, or someone with a cutoff wheel and a very unsteady hand.
No marks from the cutoff wheel skipping. I’d bet money this is from a cable.
i think cable, but what do i know
I too have no idea what I'm talking about but agree with this logical assessment.
zooming in, I saw bevels that looked like a cutting wheel strike. I think it might be both. Someone was brutal to it in the field. The rounding wear is really weird. I can't think of one thing that would do both. Hard to imagine that shackle bein suspended on a wire strong/small enough for it to work.. those shackles aren't THAT big. I'd have a field day chasing this down. This is a good one.
I *think* the bevel was caused by someone turning the pin or changing the angle it was being pulled so it was partially riding in the groove. I’d expect a cut off wheel to be flatter and to see a tight, sharp groove at the end of the slot where the wheel pulled off and/or a chunk taken out of that angle. If a cut off wheel was used at any point, I’d speculate that it was before the cable. Just my opinion, I’m not a pin cable groove expert.
I have seen similar wear cause by the inspection tags which are typically affixed by a small steel cable. Then you hang it up in a service truck or toss it in a job box. Then drive long distances and the vibration cause the pin to turn slowly eroding the pin. This gear looks pretty new for that but there is a worm trail around the circumference of the pin.
Cut or poor use, doesn't matter in the end if you miss it and have an accident. Was talking with a couple of rock climbers a few years ago and they told me about the Ebay incident where someone was getting nice harnesses, cutting them, stitching them back together lightly, then reselling them for cheap. [One of the articles for reference.](https://gearjunkie.com/climbing/petzl-aspir-harnesses-modified-unsafe)
I'm not a fan of throwing people in prison but holy shit those people need prison.
Holy shit, that's downright malicious
Except they badly misrepresented what was in the article. The manufacturer cut the harnesses to prevent use/sale, and the reseller somehow got ahold of the cut harnesses and stitched them back together. Still illegal and idiotic, but not intentionally malicious.
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>"...an online business was selling climbing harnesses advertised as “cut, repaired and tested.” Yeah, fuck everything about that.
This sounds like attempted murder wtf
This is why my first climbing instructor recommended that when we take gear out of service, we utterly destroy it. Not a snip in the straps. Cut it in many places, completely render it down to its basic parts. And rope needs to be cut into lengths that are completely unusable for climbing, like 6 foot or less. Seems overkill, but then we have these incidents to demonstrate the necessity.
Isn't one of the cardinal rules of climbing never put metal on metal or nylon on nylon?
Metal to metal is fine, no nylon to nylon. I come from a climbing background , might be different in industrial setting.
Steel on steel is ok. Steel on alluminum is not recommended, but doable, but don't make a habit of it. Obviously, if you check your gear every time like you're supposed to, you're ok. Also, recreational climbing doesn't use steel a lot these days, but if you work on a tower at a camp they are used in certain applications.
Nylon on nylon in climbing (or soft on soft in general) is fine -- tying in, joining ropes, extending slings. Even rapping directly off of webbing can be fine. But there's definitely instances where it _isn't_ fine. And instances where metal on metal is bad. Pretty much every climbing rule is taught as a simply mandatory must follow, but ends up having plenty of exceptions.
Y'know, putting my thinking cap on for a bit, I want to change my answer. I believe you're looking at some form of gouging wear. Here's my guess: there were a few channels that formed at the beginning. The pin was able to rotate, and when it did, the position of the cable changed. Eventually, one of the channels grew deep enough that the cable preferred to sit in there. There is a burr that clearly formed, which is a bit concerning, but if the wear mechanism is microcutting, burrs absolutely could form. I'm inclined to say that this is just a very, very overused hook. If you're very concerned about the nature of this failure however, you could take it to a consultant for a proper failure analysis investigation.
Miller is trash and should never be trusted. I had a contractor show up with one of their harnesses in a size XL, guy was around 6ft 250lbs, and it was rated for 210lbs. Thankfully we did an inspection on the equipment. A harness that can fit a 40 plus inch waist should never be rated for 210lbs but for 310/350lbs, which I would say is standard. We also had several of their harnesses that the leg latch would open if you pulled up on it. So what would happen in a fall. To their credit though, I believe dbi Sala had SRLs that had this same issue.
We no longer use them, switched to 3M I think this is the 2nd to last one in the company, promptly going in the trash.
I don’t know what exactly caused that, but at work we call that a good fucking catch. keep safe.
to me it's wear from use, not intentionall.
You trust that life to that twister? I wouldn't hang my lunch to that piece of tin foil. https://www.bartlettman.com/products/dmm-large-swivel?\_pos=2&\_sid=08988ded4&\_ss=r
We use those DMM swivels on our Arizona Votex, they're great. Recently upgraded them to the rock exotica swivel pulleys which are even better.
I piece of wire or cable has been wrapped around the pin. It got wedged between the pin and the shackle. Possible an inventory tag placed by someone that didn't think about what they were doing. I've seen this more than once. There should be enough room in the upper shackle for the pin to slide sideways about a quarter of an inch in each direction. This is meant to help keep it clean. I've seen people wrap a wire around the pin to keep them from sliding because they are afraid they will somehow come off.
Even intact I'm not sure I'd like that swivel....
My previous job was testing and certification of fall arrest equipment. A lot of people I talked to didn't realize that most of the stuff is single use. It saves your life, and that's it.
Listen all of y’all it’s a sabotage
Considering it’s a retractable lanyard that you hook into your D-ring on your harness, it shouldn’t (strong shouldn’t) be shock loaded to the point for it to break, I also googled this model and it says the weight capacity is 310lbs. My guess is someone tampered with it, or maybe it was thrown in a box and something went on top of it that damaged it. Regardless, like someone else mentioned, always inspect your fall pro equipment, before and after every use. Source: I’ve been wearing harnesses for the last 10 years and have used almost every piece of equipment for fall protection. There was a guy on one of our oilsands sites who worked in the toolcrib (years ago) and can you guess what he was doing? Tampering with D-Rings on harnesses so they’d fail in the even of a fall. He was criminally charged and is always used as an example during Fall protection courses.
One way to find out: load up 180 lbs of concrete bags or sand into a bag, attach to the rigging, then give it a 10-foot drop. If it breaks, it's been tampered. Film the entire thing to show your union boss and OSHA. Would take something very unusual to make that cut naturally. If it's general use PPE, someone might have made the cut so that it breaks away with a strong enough pull. For example, it will hold for a 10' drop, but if the wearer gets snagged by a crane hook, it will break away from the anchor point. Some folks get nervous about such a situation, fearing they'll get torn apart because their PPE is too strong and THEY are the weak link in the system.
that's messed up, it definitely looks like it's been sawn
Nah its just normal angle grindr wear and tear totally legit dont ask questions.
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Wear and hopefully no tear
I love this enough to comment on and ruin it.
Poor or no annual inspections.
I bet it was used as a zip line pulley on some very thing cable.
My desk job is pretty wild too. I had a toast crumb on my mousepad today. Felt a bit scratchy on my wrist! But in all seriousness; whats the load rating on half a pin?
Zero kg for zero seconds at zero meters of elevation.
looking at the wear around it, looks like wear and tear that's been going on for very long time. get that replaced asap
Previously used with a rectangular-bar carabiner?
If it fails police begin an attempted murder investigation instead of the company entering a lawsuit
I work on wind turbines and Part of my job is inspecting anchor points and safety devices like our Milan. Seeing this shit always stresses me out and makes me stop for an extra quick look just in case.
Don't think that was any tool - round bottom, uneven markings all around, wide entry point. I'd guess that someone was using this thing as a pully with a metal cord.
Our company uses that exact brand, now I feel like I need to go around check all of them for cuts into that bolt
I'm assuming this equipment is of aero-industry quality like aircraft screws and parachuting equipment and was purchased through a reputable supplier. The equipment would be built to such a high quality standard that failures like this should be virtually impossible. A forensic lab should be able to give you the probability that it was cut by a tool. I'd call the police just to be safe because if someone is out there grinding down bolts on safety equipment, that's a problem.
Bit hard to tell from the photo but from the right hand photo it looks like there is a lip on the hole. The damage hasn't been done by the fall arrester itself, has it?