Every AllEquipped journal post on Fall Protection — 6 write-ups on the gear, the standards behind it and what the labels actually mean.
A Class 2 SRL is qualified by being dropped over a steel edge with a radius of five thousandths of an inch. That single test explains the lifeline, the anchor rules, and why foot-level work needs roughly double the clearance.
Five brands we rate, the product each is known for, and the single specification that explains why. If you only remember one number per device, make it these.
A worn carabiner is dangerous long before it's weak. The realistic risk isn't that it breaks under load — it's that it cuts the rope running over it. Edelrid's answer is a steel insert where the wear actually happens.
A mobile fall arrester is useless without its energy absorber, and Petzl runs three generations of both. Same-generation pairs are certified. Some mixed pairs are merely approved. The rest were never tested at all.
Read the label on a tree climbing saddle and one certification is missing. That absence isn't an oversight — it's the clearest statement anyone makes about how arborist work actually differs from working at height.
Lay the three kits on a bench and they look identical. They aren't. What separates the disciplines, the standards that govern each, and which of the brands we rate belongs in which box.
