Moving between anchor points is when people fall. With a single tail lanyard you must unclip from one anchor before clipping to the next, and in that moment you have no protection at all. A Y forked lanyard removes it: two tails, so one stays attached while the other moves.
On any job involving progression — climbing a structure, moving along steelwork, working across a roof — that is not a convenience, it is the difference between continuous protection and intermittent protection.
**The one rule that matters:** never clip the unused tail back onto your harness. In a fall, a tail clipped to the harness becomes a direct load path from the anchor to your body, bypassing the shock absorber entirely. The forces transmitted can cause serious injury even though the fall is arrested. Let it hang, or use a lanyard parking attachment designed to release under load.
Key Features
- Twin tails: Continuous attachment during transfers between anchor points.
- 45 mm shock absorber: Wider than the 35 mm on single tail models, reflecting the twin configuration.
- Karabiner and two scaffold hooks fitted: Ready to use, with 50 mm class hooks for tube and structure.
- VG 11.063: The European coordination document for lanyard use, over and above BS EN 355.
- Webbing or kernmantle: FA 30 400 18 is 30 mm webbing at 1.8 m; FA 30 600 XX is 11 mm kernmantle at 1 m or 1.5 m.
- Maximum user 100 kg including tools.
Technical Specifications
| Code |
Material |
Length |
Absorber |
Cost |
| FA 30 400 18 |
30 mm webbing |
1.8 m |
35 mm |
£45.59 |
| FA 30 600 10 |
11 mm kernmantle |
1 m |
45 mm |
see listing |
| FA 30 600 15 |
11 mm kernmantle |
1.5 m |
45 mm |
£43.22 |
For anti-cut Y forked, see FA 30 610 15 (£77.40, 140 kg). For expandable Y forked, see FA 30 800 15 (£48.49) and FA 30 1000 20 (£93.72, 140 kg).
BS EN 355 | VG 11.063 | Twin Tail | Max User 100 kg | Category III PPE
Conforms to BS EN 355 for energy absorbing lanyards together with VG 11.063. Never clip the unused tail back to the harness: in a fall it transmits arrest forces directly to the user, bypassing the shock absorber. Category III PPE under Regulation (EU) 2016/425. Inspection by a competent person at intervals not exceeding 12 months.
Suitable Applications
Any work involving movement between anchor points: steel erection, scaffolding, tower and mast climbing, structural maintenance, and progression along a roof or gantry. Wherever a single tail lanyard would leave the user briefly unprotected during a transfer, the Y fork is the correct specification and the cost difference is small relative to what it addresses.
More About This Product
The lanyard is where most fall protection systems are specified wrongly, and almost always in the same direction: a restraint lanyard used where fall arrest was needed.
It happens because the two look alike, cost similarly, hang in the same place in the store and are both described as lanyards. The difference is a folded pack of stitched webbing — the shock absorber — and on some designs it is tucked inside a cover where it is not obvious at a glance. A restraint lanyard is engineered on the assumption that it will never take a fall, and if it does, the forces reaching the body are far beyond what the human frame tolerates.
Fall Clearance: The Calculation Nobody Does
Ask most people how much clearance a 2 metre shock absorbing lanyard needs and they will say two metres. The real figure is a great deal more, and the gap between those two numbers is where people get hurt.
The calculation stacks up as follows. Lanyard length — as marked on the lanyard. Shock absorber deployment — the pack tears progressively and extends significantly. The figure for your specific lanyard is on its own label and must be read from there. The user's height below the attachment point — the dorsal D-ring is at shoulder height, so add roughly 1.5 m to reach the feet. A safety margin — because the calculation assumes ideal conditions and reality rarely provides them.
Added together these come to considerably more than the lanyard length, frequently more than double it. On a low working platform a shock absorbing lanyard may not prevent the ground being reached at all.
Where the clearance is not available, the answer is a retractable block, which arrests in a far shorter distance, or a restraint system where a fall is prevented rather than arrested.
How to Use the Y Forked Lanyard
- Keep one tail attached at all times: Clip the second before releasing the first. Every time, without exception.
- Never clip the spare tail to the harness: It bypasses the shock absorber in a fall.
- Calculate fall clearance including absorber deployment.
- Attach the karabiner to the harness dorsal D-ring.
- Anchor as high as practicable.
- Inspect both tails before every use.
Warning: Never clip the unused tail back onto the harness. In a fall that tail becomes a direct load path bypassing the shock absorber, and the forces transmitted can cause serious injury. Let it hang or use a purpose-made parking attachment.
Safety Information
- For use only by trained and competent persons within a safe system of work.
- Maximum user weight 100 kg including tools.
- One tail must remain attached at all times.
- Never clip the unused tail back to the harness.
- Calculate fall clearance including absorber deployment.
- Fit edge protection where a tail may cross an edge.
- Withdraw immediately after arresting a fall or any absorber deployment.
- Inspection by a competent person required at intervals not exceeding 12 months.
Inspection and Maintenance
Both tails need inspecting independently. Check each full length on both faces for cuts, abrasion, fraying, glazing and staining, and examine every termination and its stitching. Check the shock absorber pack for deployment, tearing or an opened cover. Inspect the karabiner and both scaffold hooks for gate operation, positive locking and throat wear — scaffold hooks used on structural steel wear quickly at the throat, and on a Y forked lanyard there are two of them doing twice the work.
Downloads
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why must I not clip the spare tail to my harness?
Because in a fall it becomes a direct load path from the anchor to your body, bypassing the shock absorber entirely. The forces transmitted can cause serious injury even though the fall is arrested. It is the single most common misuse of a twin tail lanyard.
Q: Where do I put the spare tail then?
Let it hang, or use a harness with web keepers such as the Fly'in range, or a lanyard parking attachment designed to release under load. What it must not be attached to is a load-bearing point on the harness.
Q: Webbing or kernmantle?
Webbing lies flatter against the body; kernmantle is rounder in the hand and some find it easier to handle. Both meet BS EN 355. The kernmantle version comes in 1 m as well as 1.5 m, which suits work where clearance is tight.
