Rescue Talk™
From Competent to Confident: How to Go Beyond Checking Boxes
The call came just after lunch. A worker fell from a structural beam at a remote construction site in West Texas. His harness arrested the fall, but not before he clipped a support on the way down, breaking his ankle. He was suspended 50 feet above the ground, injured and swaying in the wind. The crew stared up, helpless. After a few misguided attempts to rescue him, including pulling on his lanyard without a mechanical system and to raise the forklift forks under him that were 10 foot too short, the shift supervisor ran to the equipment trailer and returned with a dust covered binder labeled Rescue Plans. It was buried under a coil of extension cords and remnants of mechanical parts. It was the first time many of the crew had seen this book of roughly scribbled notes. They hadn’t reviewed the plans before they started work or done any rescue training prior to working at height. They flipped it open and realized it had not been updated or reviewed since their last job in another state. The inventory sheet for their rescue from fall protection kit hadn’t been filled out in years, and the kit itself had been pilfered down to a 50 foot of dirty old rope and a couple of rusty carabiners. No dice. The person listed as the competent person had inspected the gear that morning. He was the one who signed off on the fall protection equipment. He had even taken a brief online course a few years back. But when it came to knowing what anchor points were appropriate, how much clearance was needed, or what to do when someone actually fell, he was a bit out of his depth.
“OSHA Allows the employer to designate someone as competent…but doesn’t define how much training or experience is required”
The worker was suspended in his harness for nearly three hours before help arrived. It could have ended much worse. This is the uncomfortable truth. Being labeled as the “competent person” is often treated as a formality. OSHA allows the employer to designate someone as competent if they can identify hazards and are authorized to take corrective action based on training and/or experience. But OSHA does not define how much training is required or what level of experience is necessary. That gap in clarity is exactly where things tend to go wrong.
OSHA vs ANSI
A competent person should be more than someone who knows how to spot a frayed lanyard or a broken buckle. They are responsible for overseeing fall protection systems that may be the only thing between a worker and a fatal fall. That includes everything from equipment inspection and anchor selection to hazard surveys and rescue planning. OSHA defines a competent person under 29 CFR 1926.32(f) as someone “capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards” and “authorized to take prompt corrective measures.” That sounds good in theory, but the regulation stops there. There is no requirement for formal training, no guidance on how detailed their knowledge needs to be, and no clear accountability when the designation is made casually.
“…the goal should be verbal or physical contact with a suspended worker in less than six minutes.”
ANSI fills in many of those blanks. The ANSI Z359.2 standard outlines the specific knowledge areas and responsibilities a competent person should have. It includes supervision of authorized persons, ensuring proper clearance calculations, reviewing rescue plans, and making sure all fall protection measures are in place and functional. ANSI also makes clear distinctions between minimum standards and best practices, offering detailed guidance where OSHA remains broad. For example, OSHA requires employers to provide “prompt rescue” following a fall. ANSI takes that further. According to ANSI Z359.2, the goal should be verbal or physical contact with a suspended worker in less than six minutes. That difference is critical when you consider how quickly suspension trauma can become life threatening. In a rescue, minutes matter. Without a trained, confident competent person who understands what those six minutes actually look like in practice, you are gambling with someone’s life.
What is it really?
Most people hear “competent person” and immediately think about gear inspection. That is part of the job, but it is far from the whole picture. A true fall protection competent person must be able to evaluate whether an anchor point is appropriate for fall arrest and calculate total fall distance with factors like worker height, lanyard length, deceleration, harness stretch, and a safety margin. Self-retracting lifelines simplify those calculations and often include visual aids, but understanding the underlying principles allows for better troubleshooting and helps avoid critical errors. They must also be able to walk through a jobsite and spot exposures others might miss, such as swing fall risks or inadequate clearance. They also need to understand the differences between certified and improvised anchors, and when a qualified person needs to be involved.
“In addition to understanding theory and general standards, a competent person must be able to localize those concepts to the specific realities of their worksite.”
OSHA allows improvised anchors to be designated by a competent person if they are expected to hold at least 5,000 pounds per person. ANSI takes that further, requiring specific evaluations for certain anchors and clear documentation when safety margins are being estimated in the field. Rescue planning may be the most neglected responsibility of all. OSHA does not require a written plan, but ANSI does. If your only rescue plan lives in an old binder tucked away in the equipment trailer, it will not help you when someone is suspended and in trouble. A competent person should be involved in writing or reviewing suspended worker rescue plans. They should know if the team can handle a self-rescue, an assisted rescue, or if a technical rescue team is needed. They should know how long it will take for help to arrive and what happens while the worker is waiting.
How do I build confidence?
Many people who are given the competent person title are not comfortable in that role. They do not feel ready. They have not been taught how to think critically about fall protection systems, or how to apply ANSI guidance when OSHA stops short. They may be fully compliant on paper and still unprepared for reality. Competence, by OSHA’s definition, is not the same thing as confidence in the field. Confidence comes from formal training, hands-on scenarios, and a clear understanding of both the legal requirements and the practical expectations of the job. Taking a comprehensive fall protection course can help bridge that gap. A well-rounded training program should go beyond harness inspections. It should equip participants to evaluate hazards, write rescue plans, supervise jobsite activities, and make confident decisions under pressure. The best programs cover both OSHA compliance and ANSI best practices, because in the real world, the minimum is rarely enough.
If someone is going to carry the responsibility of being your site’s competent person, they need more than a label. They need a foundation. They need the confidence to say when something is unsafe, and the knowledge to know what better looks like. It is not about checking boxes. It is about saving lives. Make sure your competent person knows how to do more than inspect a harness. Make sure they can protect the worker wearing it.
