Accident data collected by the Health and Safety Executive reveals that working at height is the biggest causes of fatalities and major injuries at work in the UK. As an arborist or a forestry worker, your harness is integral to protecting your health and safety. At the same time, it needs to be comfortable and must allow you to do your job.

Choosing a tree climbing harness is an extremely important decision and shouldn’t be taken lightly or just based on the cheapest option. You will be using your harness every working day for the next five years or so potentially. Cost is clearly an important factor but the harness must also suit your physical build, your centre of gravity and work style.

Types of harness

There are two main categories of harness:

Work positioning or suspension harnesses

The harness will give you the mobility to position yourself safely and correctly and will support you in an upright position. Both hands are free as the harness is suspended from an overhead tie-in point. Harnesses must comply with EN358 / EN813 safety standards. Good options are the Edelrid Tree Core Harness with comfortable back padding and the TreeMOTION harness with easy adjustment of the suspension system.

Fall arrest or fall restraint harnesses

These harnesses are designed to be anchored to a fixed point such as a structure or platform and not for tree climbing. A restraint lanyard is required. As an arborist, you may need this type of harness when you are working on a mobile elevated work platform (for example, a cherry picker). Suitable options would be the Titan fall arrest safety harness or Duraflex fall arrest safety harnesses.

Leg position

This is a matter of personal preference so trying out the harness before you make the purchase is definitely preferential if possible.

The two main categories are:

Sit harnesses

The Willans harness is a good example of a sit harness which bears the weight of the climber on a strap underneath their buttocks. The alternative is a rigid central strap like the Dragonfly harness. A sit harness is a good investment if you need to hang free for longer periods of time. They may be more suitable for arborists with a bigger build.

Harnesses with individual leg straps.

Harnesses such as the Bolt Orion harness or the Petzl Sequoia harness take most of your weight on padded leg straps. You need to make sure that the leg straps are adjusted properly to help prevent them pinching. These are often more comfortable if you need to move around a lot in the canopy as they allow more unrestricted freedom of movement.

Attachment

With your central attachment point from the waist of an arborist harness, you have the choice of sliding or fixed. A sliding ring affords more lateral freedom and that eases the strain on the user’s hips and back. This is the most popular type, however, new users may feel more secure with a fixed ‘D’ or ring attachment.

There are usually loops for specific tools that can bear specified weights. For example, the TreeMOTION harness uses colour coded rings to indicate which loops are for lanyards and which are gear loops.