I think the biggest safety factor when it comes to belts, harnesses, or saddles is maintaining AS LITTLE slack in the system as possible. The further you fall before the system catches you, the greater the shock load. TMA certified harnesses have ridiculously low shock ratings for a life saving device, and they are only rated for a SINGLE fall event. They literally need to be thrown away if they have caught a fall.
Falls of only 24” on static rope create shock loads as high as 1,600lbs for an average weight “rock climber”. Most of us are not built like a rock climbers, so we can assume closer to 2,000lbs of force in a fall restraint. And remember, your fall is AT LEAST DOUBLE the length of how high above your tie in you are. In the above 24” fall, that is assuming you were only 12” above the tie in. You fall the 12” back down to the tie in, and then you fall the extra 12” of rope you had to have to to get 12” inches above it in the first place. If you had 12” of slack in the system, you fall 36” instead of 24”.
With my saddle or riggers belt, I always maintain tension in my system. That means I don’t ever get a true free fall, but my system more swings me a few inches into the tree instead. The G-force difference between swinging into the tree vs a rope cold stopping a free fall are tremendous.
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