"Injury, damage and lost work hours resulting from untethered tools falling from aloft cost U.S. industry about $6 billion a year," said a Hammerhead Industries spokesperson. "A staggering figure, yet this type of accident is almost completely preventable by using a relatively inexpensive tethering device."

To help safety professionals choose tethers that increase site safety without impeding productivity, Hammerhead Industries, manufacturer of Gear Keeper tethers and retractable lanyards, has produced the 12-page "Safety Engineer's Guide to Tool and Instrument Tethering."

The guide's "Select the Right Tether in Four Easy Steps" chart is designed as a quick reference that will aid safety professionals when selecting appropriate tethers for tools up to 25 lbs. Also covered in the guide are workplace considerations such as tethers for working in confined quarters or climbing; tethers that allow for quick interchangeability of tools; when it is mandatory to anchor the tether to a structure instead of a person; choosing tethers that reduce worker's fatigue and what safety engineers need to know about load-testing and built-in safety margins for tethers.

The "Industrial Tool Tether" section includes an X/Y chart that helps safety engineers quickly match tether and lanyard model numbers to tool weight and usage. With over 3,000 tethering configurations available, the guide highlights many of Gear Keeper's most popular tethers and lanyards.

For safety engineers concerned with the safety and protection of hand-held instruments such as bar code readers, the "Instrumentation Tether" section covers a range of tethering options. Among the unique tether configurations described is a shoulder strap tether that offers an exclusive "Instrument Slide" feature that permits instrument movement on the strap without the strap moving on the worker's body.

Information on how to tether other workplace objects such as hard hats, security cards, cell phones and micro-tools are also covered in the guide. Information is also included about tethering seemingly untetherable tools and how to create custom tethers for unique applications.

"The new Safety Engineer's Guide to Tool and Instrument Tethering is the first document of its kind," said John Salentine, VP of Hammerhead Industries. "It is a major step forward in helping safety engineers properly tether tools and instruments. This information will make every repair, maintenance or manufacturing project safer and more efficient."

To obtain a free copy of the new Safety Engineer's Guide to Tool and Instrument Tethering, go to www.gearkeeper.com/guide." target="_blank">www.gearkeeper.com/guide.

For more information contact:

Hammerhead Industries

1501 Goodyear Ave.

Ventura, CA 93003

888-588-9981/805-658-9922

info@gearkeeper.com

www.gearkeeper.com/guide