Test of 10 years old harnesses
An operator of an adventure park sent me three of his "worst" harnesses. He wanted to know if he must discard them or if it is possible to make a risk analysis based on a breaking load test. The harnesses were obviously used: First I put it on my dummy and testloaded it with 15 kN. This load is required by the EN 12277, the standard for mountaineering harnesses. All three samples passed this test. Edit: I do not know the original breaking load. In the Norm test the samples are loaded only up to 15 kN, but not until failure. Therefore I do not know theweakening factor due to wear. Then I did a test which is not required by the standard, but I think it is important: I made all loops as large as possible. This size would not fit on any dummy, but it could be that the damage on the webbing is closer to the end. I took a big shackle and attached legloops and waist belt to it. The breaking load (in Kn) was as follow: The harnesses broke either...