One of the most asked questions in Fall Arrest Training is, "Do my fall arrest harness straps need to be tight?".   Yes, it is extremely important that your harness straps be tight and your harness fit properly.  A degloving injury is one type of injury that can result from improper fitting of a fall arrest harness.   Which is an extremely painful injury. 

How do you know if your harness leg straps are fitted properly?  One method is the Hand/Fist Test.

To determine if your fall arrest harness leg straps are adjusted properly, follow these basic steps:
1. Make your hand flat.
2. Insert your hand between your leg and the leg strap until the strap is across your wrist.
3. Make your hand into a fist.
4. Try to pull your fist in between the leg strap and your leg.

Did fist make it through? If so your leg straps need to be tightened until you cannot pull your fist out.  If you weren’t able to complete step 2 above then your leg straps are actually too tight.  As you may know, properly fitting the full body harness leg straps is just one small part of using fall arrest equipment.

To receive more information on proper fall arrest harness fitting, fall arrest equipment or fall protection training please contact the Northern Strands Safety Training Division at 306-242-7073, by email training@northernstrands.com or visit our website http://www.northernstrands.com/training.aspx 

Attached is our recently completed Safety Training Brochure.   This brochure contains information on safety training courses for the construction, mining and emergency responder industries.

Northern Strands Safety Training Brochure.pdf (2.34 mb) 

In addition to training, Northern Strands Engineered Fall Protection Division offers a variety of fall protection systems, solutions and services. Custom-engineered solutions can be designed to suit specific requirements.   For more information you can call 306-242-7073, email lifelines@northernstrands.com or visit our website http://www.northernstrands.com/fall-protection.aspx

Northern Strands is proudly Saskatoon, Saskatchewan owned and operated.

On June 1st Northern Strands hosted the Crosby Shrimp Boil and Rigging Training event.  Crosby picks only 4 companies a year in North America to host this event.  It took months of careful planning and teamwork to make the event a success.  

We started at the Travelodge for Rigging Training.  We had excellent attendance for the Crosby Rigging Course.  Over 80 people attend training!  Crosby Group gave an excellent course on rigging.  The Crosby trainer covered everything from rigging inspection to how the working load limit can vary between different types of rigging hardware.

Did you know that Northern Strands offers a variety of safety training courses? i.e. Fall Arrest Training, Rigging Training, Winch Training, First Aid Training, Suspended Access Training, Wirelock Socketing Training, Emergency Medical Responder Training, Medical First Responder Training, Intermediate First Aid Training and more.

After training, we all headed over to Northern Strands for the second half of our event.  The Crosby Shrimp Boil!  This is the part everyone was waiting for.  The meal consisted of sausage, peppers, corn, mushrooms, baby potatoes and of course shrimp.  See the attached PDF for the full recipe.

Shrimp boil dinner.pdf (138.67 kb)

At the Shrimp Boil we provided demonstrations on Northern Strands new Mobile Test Center.   We pulled rigging to destruction and showed how damaged rigging will readily break below the working load limit.  Our new Mobile Test Center was engineered and fabricated for Northern Strands by our sister company Fortis Mining Engineering & Manufacturing.  

Northern Strands is now offering free, "Is Your Rigging Safe Demonstration's" to qualified customers.  We will bring our Mobile Test Center on site for your demonstration.  See the attached brochure for detail on how to book your rigging safety demonstration.

Is Your Rigging Safe Demonstration Brochure.pdf (1.25 mb)

In addition to the pull to destruction demonstrations, we offered tours of our Northern Strands rigging warehouse facilities.  We had employees giving demonstrations on how we fabricate 1" wire rope slings in our sling bay.

Northern Strands would like to thank all of our clients that attended the Northern strands Shrimp Boil and Training Event.  We hope you all enjoyed the training, dinner, pull testing demonstrations and tours of our rigging warehouse.  

Here are a few more great pictures from the Northern Strands Crosby Shrimp Boil!

This year Crosby Group has selected Northern Strands to host its famous Crosby Shrimp Boil and Rigging Training Seminar!  For those unfamiliar with this event, Crosby Group provides a free rigging course followed by a shrimp boil where you eat jumbo prawns to your hearts content.  Plus Northern Strands will be providing pull testing demonstrations on our mobile test bed and offering tours of our rigging warehouse facilities.  Crosby selects only one Canadian Crosby rigging distributor annually to host this exclusive event.  With Northern Strands being one of the top rigging companies in Saskatchewan, it was high time the Crosby Shrimp Boil made it's way back to Saskatchewan.  In fact, this isn't the first time Northern Strands has hosted the Crosby Shrimp Boil.   In years past, our Regina location hosted the event to great success.

The Northern Strands Shrimp Boil and Rigging Training event will take place Wednesday June 1st.  If you are a company that uses rigging and would like your employees to receive free rigging training followed by a free shrimp boil, contact us today to see if we still have spots available.  See the attached invitation for details...We have extended the RSVP date to May 20th.  Email marketing@northernstrands.com if you are interested in attending.

Northern Strands Crosby Shrimp Boil Invite.pdf (827.73 kb)

Did you know that Northern Strands is the largest supplier of supplier of rigging and wire rope in Saskatchewan?  We supply many of the local farmers, construction companies and potash mines in Saskatchewan with the following rigging supplies:

• Crosby shackles
• web slings
• round slings
• chain slings
• wire rope slings with special fitting (threaded studs, spelter sockets, swage sockets)
• turnbuckles
• wirelock
• spreader beams
• chain hoists
• lever hoists
• aircraft cable
• plate clamps
• beam clamps
• tow straps
• tow rope
• snatch blocks
• transport chain
• fall protection gear
• lifting hooks
• trifors
• grade 100 chain
• lifting lugs
• eyebolts & eye nuts
• wire rope lubricant
• grade 100 chain
• grade 30 and 43 Chain

And of course all Crosby Rigging products!

Northern Strands is proudly Saskatoon, Saskatchewan owned and operated.

For the third year in a row Northern Strands attended one of the largest safety trade shows in Western Canada.   The Industrial Safety Seminar was held at Praireland Park in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.   Hundreds of people interested in learning more about work place safety were in attendance.   The Northern Strands double booth featured an Advanced Davit Arm System for entry and retrieval applications.   Below is a picture of the Davit System set up at the Industrial Safety Seminar

Many industry experts visited our booth to inquire about Northern Strands safety related divisions; Safety Training, Engineered Fall Protection, Wire Rope and Rigging and Suspended Access.   One of the more popular questions was, "What training courses do you offer?"   This was an excellent question!  

Our current training courses include:

• Fall Arrest Training
• Crosby Rigging Seminars
• Wirelock Socketing Seminars
• First Aid and CPR training
• Tugger Safety Training
• Suspended Access Equipment Training

Over the last few decades worker safety in Canada has become an area of utmost importance for our government, companies and workers.   Worker fall protection safety has been a particular area of focus in safety regulations and culture across Saskatchewan and Canada. 

Did you know that Saskatchewan's Occupational Health and Safety Regulations states that, "An employer or contractor shall develop a written fall protection plan where:
(a) a worker may fall three metres or more; and
(b) workers are not protected by a guardrail or similar barrier."?

What constitutes a fall protection plan or system?  OH&S regulations state, "The fall protection plan required by subsection (1) must describe:
(a) the fall hazards at the worksite;
(b) the fall protection system to be used at the worksite;
(c) the procedures used to assemble, maintain, inspect, use and disassemble the fall protection system; and
(d) the rescue procedures to be used if a worker falls, is suspended by a personal fall arrest system or safety net and needs to be rescued.
(3) The employer or contractor shall ensure that a copy of the fall protection plan is readily available before work begins at a worksite where a risk of falling exists.
(4) The employer or contractor shall ensure that a worker is trained in the fall protection plan and the safe use of the fall protection system before allowing the worker to work in an area where a fall protection system must be used."

Northern Strands Engineered Fall Protection Division recently completed a job where we installed an Engineered Fall Protection System for a commercial rooftop.  We completed the installation of two force management anchors on a standing seam roof.  Standing seam clamps are attached to the roof top. Bearer bars bridge the gap between two standing seams.  Anchor plates are the riveted to the bearer bars and the pull tested. Finally the anchors are assembled on the anchor plate and torqued.  These rooftop anchors are now ready for the customers use.

If you have questions regarding commercial rooftop fall protection plans, please contact the Engineered Fall Protection Division of Northern Strands at 306.242.7073, email lifelines@northernstrands.com or visit our webpage http://www.northernstrands.com/fall-protection.aspx

Northern Strands is COR safety certified and is a Mission Zero Charter Member. 

We are proudly Saskatoon, Saskatchewan owned and operated.