US Patent 9847010 Fall protection harness with damage indicator

A fall protection harness includes a computer processor, an optical transmitter, and an optical receiver coupled. The optical transmitter and the optical receiver are optically coupled. Upon damage to the fall protection harness, the optical coupling between the optical transmitter and the optical receiver is broken, the computer processor senses the break in the optical coupling between the optical transmitter and the optical receiver; and the computer processor generates a signal indicating the damage.