Fall Protection

Fall Protection Awareness or Competent Person Training?

eTraining offers three fall protection courses. The difference is the role the person plays on site.

• OSHA Fall Protection Training. This is the course on this page, and it is the one you buy for the crew. It is awareness level, written for the people working at height rather than the person supervising them. View the OSHA Fall Protection Training
• Fall Protection, Spanish. The same seven units and the same 29 CFR 1926 Subpart M content, delivered in Spanish. Buy it for crew members who would rather train in Spanish, and they receive the same personalized certificate. It is a separate enrollment. View the Fall Protection, Spanish
• Fall Protection for the Competent Person. Written for the person your company designates as the competent person on site. 29 CFR 1926.32(f) describes someone who can spot fall hazards and has the authority to fix them on the spot, and 29 CFR 1926.503(a)(2) has that person train the crew. View the Fall Protection for the Competent Person

Most sites buy both. The crew takes the awareness course, and whoever your company designates as the competent person takes the competent person course.

When Fall Protection Training Has to Be Done Again

Fall protection training has no expiry date in 29 CFR 1926 Subpart M. 29 CFR 1926.503(c) triggers retraining on conditions instead, and there are three of them.

• A change on the site can restart it. 29 CFR 1926.503(c)(1) triggers retraining where changes in the workplace render previous training obsolete. A new building, a new roof type or a new edge can all qualify.
• New equipment can restart it too. 29 CFR 1926.503(c)(2) triggers it where changes in the types of fall protection systems or equipment render previous training obsolete. Swapping lanyards for self-retracting lifelines is a change of equipment type.
• So can watching someone use it wrong. 29 CFR 1926.503(c)(3) triggers it where inadequacies in an employee's knowledge or use of the systems show they have not retained the understanding or skill. That one is a judgement your competent person makes.
• There is no annual clock in 29 CFR 1926.503 underneath any of that. 29 CFR 1926 Subpart M sets no renewal interval anywhere in its text. Plenty of employers still run fall protection training annually as company policy, and that is a policy decision rather than a requirement.

New site, new gear, or a worker who has lost the thread: any of the three sends someone back through the course.