After the publication of SIT Ordinance No. 292 of 08/12/2011, which amended item I of Annex I of NR 6, so as to consider as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) against falls with level difference only the Safety Harness with a Fall Arrest Device and/or with lanyard, the “Fall Arrest Device” was no longer considered as PPE, for purposes of obtaining the Approval Certificate (CA). After this Ordinance became effective and considering the deadlines stipulated in INMETRO Ordinance No. 388 of 24/07/2012, which establishes the compulsory certification under the SINMETRO for PPE against falls with level difference, this Coordination currently issues / renews CA, according to conformity assessment under the SINMETRO, for:
a) Safety Harness with Lanyard;
b) Safety Harness with Fall Arrest device;
c) Safety Harness with Lanyard and Fall Arrest Device.
Thus, the Certificates of Approval already issued for the extinct PPE of the “” kind will only be valid until the expiration date stipulated in the CA itself, being allowed the renewal of this type of CA only for the Fall Arrest devices that have been tested in laboratory tests until 24/01/2014, and in these cases, the maximum validity of this CA will be 24/07/2015, the deadline stipulated in INMETRO Ordinance No. 388.
Thus, as of 07/24/2015, no more CA’s will be issued exclusively for Fall Arrest devices, nor will the certificates already issued for these devices be renewed. On the other hand, correcting what was informed in the Official Letter XXIII, we inform that the old Certificates of Approval for Fall Arrest devices will not be separated and therefore they will not include any notes making reference new CA issued for harnesses that will include these Fall Arrest devices Fall-Rocks, considering that they are no longer considered PPE.
It should be noted that the new CA for Safety Harnesses with a Fall Arrest device will contain the references of the Fall Arrest devices that have been certified by SINMETRO. Therefore, the manufacturer or importer is responsible for informing users the corresponding CA of the previously certified Fall Arrest devices that can be used for each PPE piece of equipment like the Safety Harness, and for this purpose they can make an appropriate correspondence table available in their communication media and in the instruction manual of the Safety Harness equipment,. The user is responsible for checking the information provided by the manufacturer/importer.
In order to clarify the issue, here is an example to make visualization easier:
CA 999,999 ceases to exist because it was a CA intended for a Fall Arrest device;
When applying for renewal of the TTT Safety Harness, the company will receive a new CA number, for example 123.456; In the CA 123.456, besides the description of the TTT Safety Harness ref, there will be an indication of the INMETRO certified fall arrest devices, for example, ref. YYY and JJJ, with which the Safety Harness can be used (in this example the manufacturer/importer has chosen not to certify ref. HHH);
No remark will be inserted in CA 999.999;
The manufacturer should inform users who still have Fall Arrest Devices with CA no. 999.999 that such devices bearing references YYY and JJJ are contained in CA 123.456;
It is up to the user to check the CA 123.456 on the link http://www3.mte.gov.br/sistemas/caepi/PesquisarCAInternetXSL.asp, to verify the compatibility of the information, confirming that the equipment with references YYY and JJJ are mentioned in this new CA;
If you have a HHH Fall Arrest Device, which has not been certified via SINMETRO, with CA 999.999, it will only be valid until the date stated in the CA, since such reference is not contained in CA 123.456 or any other CA for Safety Harnesses. The same principle should be adopted for the case of Fall Arrest Devices with more than one safety harness reference, and in this case, the issuance of an CA for each safety harness should be requested.