April 16, 2004

Mr. Stephen G. Minter
Editor
Occupational Hazards
1300 E 9th St
Cleveland, OH 44114-1501

Mr. Minter,

Regarding the recent Occupational Hazard articles on fall protection programs by American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z359 committee member Michael C. Wright and fellow author Moniqua Suits, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and the Z359 Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) commend the authors, on illustrating the importance of the proposed managed fall protection program, which is featured in the proposed Z359.1 standard currently under development. Suits and Wright's articles "Will a New ANSI Standard Rescue Fall Protection?" and "Getting Started with Managed Fall Protection," provide an in-depth view of the fall protection safety requirements, which the committee is currently in process of finalizing.

The Z359 committee is revising the draft fall protection standard, which includes new sections on a managed fall protection program, travel restriction and work positioning equipment, and rescue operations. This is part of the family of standards that will be released under the Z359.1 title, a living comprehensive document on fall protection. Once the current draft is approved, the committee will begin developing new sections addressing fall protection issues such as anchorage points, horizontal lifelines and rope access.

The draft standard will go to public review by the end of the year, after full committee approval. Following the public review and comment process, the standard will then be submitted to ANSI for accreditation approval, followed by the publishing of the standard by the secretariat.

As secretariat of the Z359 ASC, ASSE looks forward to completing this revision process, and making this standard available for use by general industry, employers, and employees in preventing fatalities and injuries from workplace falls.

Sincerely,

James 'Skipper' Kendrick, CSP
President 2003-2004
American Society of Safety Engineers

Jack H. Dobson, CSP
Chair
Z359 Accredited Standards Committee