Rauch Safety & Engineering

Ten questions about the fall protection and access systems on your structure.

If you’re responsible for a structure where people work at height — a building, bridge, plant, ship, stadium, or tower — those people are relying on permanent access, fall-protection, and rescue systems that were installed at some point: possibly long before your tenure, possibly by companies that no longer exist.

Ten questions. Two minutes. No score, nothing to submit. They ask one thing: how much of this do you actually know?

What is installed?

Do you know exactly what permanent access, fall-protection, and rescue systems exist on the structure — not just the obvious ones?

Could you produce the documentation?

Do you know where the current drawings, manuals, and records are — and whether they exist at all?

Does what's installed match what was approved?

Do you know whether today’s systems are the ones that were designed, engineered, and accepted — or has that never been checked?

What has changed?

Do you know what has been replaced, modified, relocated, or removed since installation — and whether those changes were engineered, or simply done?

When were they last evaluated?

Do you know when each system was last inspected, tested, or recertified — who performed it, what was evaluated, and what records were produced?

Who is responsible?

Do you know who maintains each system — and where their responsibility ends? Do they?

Are the systems being used as intended?

Do you know whether the people working at height are using the systems as designed — or working around them?

Are any systems out of service?

Taken out of service, restricted, bypassed, or simply not used anymore — and do you know why?

What is the rescue plan?

If someone were suspended in a harness on your structure this afternoon, do you know what happens next — and is it more than calling 911?

Could you prove it?

If an insurer, a regulator, or a lawyer asked you tomorrow to demonstrate that a specific system is suitable for its current use, do you know what records you would produce?

If you could answer all ten from what you hold today, that is a strong position.

If several could not be answered, that doesn’t mean anything is wrong. It means something is unknown — and unknown can be resolved.

These questions are for general awareness only and are not an inspection, assessment, engineering evaluation, or professional advice.

Where the unknowns are in the documents — the agreement, the records, the certificate — the Service Agreement & Records Review exists to resolve them.

Where the unknowns are in the installed system itself, the Installed Systems Engineering Review™ exists for the machine.