An unusual product and worth understanding properly. Twin tail lanyards are normally a fall arrest item, letting a user stay attached while transferring between anchor points. This one applies the same idea to **restraint**: two tails, so you remain in restraint continuously while repositioning from one anchor to the next.
That suits work moving across a flat roof or open deck where the restraint geometry changes as you move — you can clip the second tail to the next anchor before releasing the first, and at no point are you free to reach an edge.
**It has no shock absorber.** Like every restraint lanyard, it is designed on the basis that it will never take a fall. If your work involves any position from which a fall is possible, this is the wrong equipment and a shock absorbing Y forked lanyard is required.
Key Features
- Twin tail restraint: Continuous restraint while moving between anchor points, which single tail restraint cannot offer.
- Fitted with two scaffold hooks and a snap hook: Ready to use.
- 11 mm polyamide kernmantle with resistance 22 kN.
- Two lengths: 1 m and 1.5 m — short, because restraint geometry depends on keeping the reach limited.
- BS EN 354.
Technical Specifications
| Code |
Length |
Rope |
Resistance |
Fittings |
Cost |
| FA 40 600 10 |
1 m |
11 mm polyamide |
22 kN |
2 scaffold + snap hook |
£28.80 |
| FA 40 600 15 |
1.5 m |
11 mm polyamide |
22 kN |
2 scaffold + snap hook |
£31.86 |
BS EN 354 | RESTRAINT ONLY — No Energy Absorber | Category III PPE
Conforms to BS EN 354 for lanyards. This lanyard has no energy absorber and is not fall arrest equipment. It must only be used in restraint, where the anchor positions and lanyard length make it impossible to reach a position from which a fall could occur. Where a fall is possible, a shock absorbing lanyard to BS EN 355 is required.
Suitable Applications
Restraint work involving movement across an area with several anchor points: flat roof plant maintenance, open deck work, and inspection tasks where the operative moves between fixed anchors. The twin tail means restraint is never broken during a transfer, which single tail restraint cannot achieve without a moment of exposure.
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 Lanyard
- Measure the geometry at every anchor: From each anchor, with a tail fully extended, you must not be able to reach any fall position.
- Keep one tail attached at all times: Clip the second before releasing the first.
- Never clip the spare tail to the harness.
- Connect to the harness dorsal D-ring.
- Reassess when the working area changes.
- Never use where a fall is possible.
Warning: Restraint lanyard with no energy absorber. It will not safely arrest a fall. Use only where the anchor positions and lanyard length make reaching a fall position impossible from every point you may work.
Safety Information
- Restraint use only. No energy absorber. Not fall arrest equipment.
- Anchor positions and lanyard length must prevent reaching any fall position.
- One tail must remain attached at all times.
- Never clip the unused tail back to the harness.
- Anchor to points capable of withstanding the applied forces.
- Inspect both tails, all terminations and all three connectors before use.
- Withdraw after any fall or shock loading.
- Inspection by a competent person required at intervals not exceeding 12 months.
Inspection and Maintenance
Both tails need checking independently: run each full length through your hands feeling for soft spots and diameter changes, and inspect each sheath for cuts, abrasion, glazing and staining. Examine every termination and its stitching. Check all three connectors for gate operation, positive locking and throat wear. Polyamide degrades under UV, so storage matters as much as use.
Downloads
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why would I want a twin tail restraint lanyard?
Because moving between anchors with a single tail means unclipping, and in that moment your restraint is broken and you could walk to the edge. Twin tails keep you in restraint continuously. It is the same logic as a twin tail fall arrest lanyard, applied to restraint.
Q: Can it arrest a fall?
No. It has no shock absorber and is certified to EN 354 for restraint, not EN 355 for fall arrest. If a fall is possible anywhere in your working area, you need shock absorbing equipment throughout.
Q: Why only 1m and 1.5m?
Restraint works by limiting reach. Short lanyards keep the geometry tight and make it easier to guarantee you cannot get to an edge. A long restraint lanyard defeats its own purpose.
