General terms
Secondary fall arrest sytems are special safety measures designed to catch individuals once they have fallen - as opposed to primary fall arrest systems which are intended to prevent falls from happening from the outset.
Secondary fall arrest systems should only be used if primary fall arrest systems , such as covers, guard rails and fall protection barriers, cannot be used for technical or structural reasons. Frequently, secondary fall arrest systems are used where the area to be secured is only to be accessed once - or too rarely to warrant installing a primary fall arrest solution.
Typical secondary fall arrest systems include safety scaffolds, safety nets and personal fall protection equipment (PPE) when implemented to arrest falls.