Temporary anchors are rigged and removed for each job. A permanent anchorage point is fixed to the structure once and stays there, which suits any building or plant where the same access task recurs.
Stainless is the reason to choose this over a painted or galvanised equivalent. An anchor living outdoors for a decade in a coastal, marine or washdown environment will corrode, and corrosion in an anchor is invisible from the outside until it matters.
Key Features
- Stainless steel construction: For marine, coastal, washdown and chemically aggressive environments where a coated anchor would corrode.
- Permanent installation: Fixed once to a sound structural element and left in place.
- BS EN 795: The anchorage device standard.
- Single user: One person per anchor unless marked otherwise.
Technical Specifications
| Property |
Value |
| Product Code |
FA 60 011 00 |
| Type |
Permanent structural anchorage point |
| Material |
Stainless steel |
| Conformity |
BS EN 795 |
| Users |
One, unless marked otherwise |
BS EN 795 | Permanent Anchorage | Installation Must Be Designed and Certified
Conforms to BS EN 795 for anchorage devices. The anchor is only as strong as what it is fixed to. The structure and fixing must be assessed by a competent person as capable of withstanding fall arrest forces, and the installation certified. Once installed, the anchor becomes part of the structure and requires periodic examination in place.
Suitable Applications
Permanent access provision on buildings and plant: roof access points, plant rooms, tank and vessel tops, and any location where the same work at height recurs. The stainless construction specifically suits marine and coastal sites, food and pharmaceutical washdown areas, swimming pools and chemical plant.
More About This Product
The anchorage is the part of a fall protection system people think about last and should think about first. Most sites can produce a harness and a lanyard within minutes; producing a certified, assessed anchor point is a different matter, and it is what genuinely determines whether the system works.
The forces involved are the reason. Arresting a fall is a dynamic event, and the load a falling person imposes on an anchor is many times their body weight — which is why BS EN 795 exists as a standard in its own right, and why the structure the anchor attaches to has to be assessed separately by someone competent to do it. The anchor may be certified; the beam, the tube, the roof purlin almost certainly is not.
Anchor Position, Fall Factor and Swing
Where the anchor sits changes the severity of a fall more than any other single decision.
Fall factor is the ratio of fall distance to the length of lanyard available to absorb it. An anchor above the head gives the lowest factor and the gentlest arrest. An anchor at foot level gives a factor 2 fall — the worst case, generating forces a shock absorber may struggle to control, and it is what happens when someone clips onto something convenient at their feet rather than something suitable above them.
Pendulum swing is the second consideration and the one that catches people out. An anchor directly overhead means a fall goes straight down. An anchor off to one side means the faller swings, and the swing can be more dangerous than the drop — into structure, into plant, or across a surface at speed. A swing that ends against a steel column is not survivable simply because the harness held.
The practical rule is to position the anchor as high as practicable and as close to directly overhead as the work allows, and to reassess it every time the work position moves.
How to Use
- Have the installation designed: The structure and fixing must be assessed as capable of withstanding fall arrest forces. That is a competent person's job, not a fitter's judgement.
- Install per the manufacturer's instructions: Fixing type, embedment and torque all matter.
- Certify the installation and record it on a register.
- One user per anchor unless marked otherwise.
- Inspect before every use and examine periodically in place.
- Do not modify: Never weld, heat, machine or drill.
Warning: An anchorage point is only as strong as the structure it is fixed to. The installation must be designed and certified by a competent person. A correctly specified anchor in unsuitable substrate offers no protection at all.
Safety Information
- Installation must be designed and certified by a competent person.
- The structure must be capable of withstanding fall arrest forces.
- One user per anchor unless marked otherwise.
- Inspect before every use.
- Periodic examination in place required; the anchor is part of the structure.
- Withdraw from use on any sign of movement, corrosion or damage to the fixing.
- Never weld, heat treat, machine or modify.
Inspection and Maintenance
A permanent anchor is inspected in place, which makes the substrate as important as the component. Check for any movement of the anchor relative to the structure, cracking or spalling around the fixing, and corrosion staining suggesting the fixing beneath is deteriorating even where the stainless anchor itself looks sound. Examine the body for distortion, wear at the attachment eye and damage to markings. Records matter more here than on portable equipment, since nobody can inspect what nobody knows exists.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why stainless rather than galvanised?
Because a permanent anchor stays outdoors for years. In marine, coastal or washdown environments a coated anchor corrodes, and corrosion in an anchor is hidden until it fails. Stainless costs more once and removes the problem.
Q: Can I install it myself?
The installation must be designed and certified by a competent person, because the anchor is only as strong as the structure and fixing. Getting the anchor right and the substrate wrong gives no protection whatsoever.
Q: How often does it need checking?
Before every use by the user, and periodically in place by a competent person. Because it is part of the structure rather than portable equipment it needs to be on a register, since an anchor nobody knows about is an anchor nobody inspects.
