In many countries it is a legal requirement that workers operating at heights or in other situations where a fall or loss of balance could lead to injury or indeed fatality must use a safety harness. Situations where the use of a safety harness can be required include rigging, erection of multi-storied buildings, tower cranes, window cleaning as well as a multitude of other situations where functions are carried out by workers at some height above the ground, eg painters, electricians, commercial roofers, line servicemen, forestry workers, etc.

Despite the need for use of a safety harness, falls or loss of balance still account for the highest causes of injury in New Zealand and the most common fatality around the world. In many cases, the injury or fatality could have been prevented if harnesses were used or worn properly.

Despite the recognised advantage of correctly using a safety harness, it is believed that often harnesses are not used because they have been found to restrict body movement and provide lack of comfort. Also, it is

recognised that some workers are not willing to be seen to be using a harness for safety purposes.

It is known from US patent specification 4625335 to combine a safety harness with a garment such as overalls or coveralls. US 4625335 discloses that the harness is permanently affixed to the exterior of the garment.

Therefore all of the harness is readily visible. As a result workers unwilling to be seen using a harness are as likely to not use the arrangement disclosed in US 4625335 for the same reason a conventional harness is not used.

A further problem with the arrangement of US 4625335 is that the garment and harness must be laundered as one item. This can lead to problems associated with laundering. Also the garment will usually wear out before the useful life of the harness has been exceeded.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a combination safety harness and garment having a construction whereby the harness is not fully visible externally of the garment.

A further object of the invention is to provide a combination safety harness and garment in which the harness is removable.

Broadly in one aspect of the invention there is provided a combination safety harness and garment including a safety harness incorporating a plurality of straps, the safety harness being removably mounted to a garment with at least part of the harness being mounted within the garment such as to not be visible from the exterior of the garment.

According to a preferred form of the invention the garment is an overall or coverall.

Preferably the strap or straps located within the garment are at leat in part removably located within one or more sleeves situated within the garment. The strap or straps extend through the garment material via suitable apertures, such as slits, formed in the garment material. Padding can be provided at the interface of strap and garment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a front view of a harness/overall combination according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a rear view of the arrangement shown in Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a more detailed view of the harness/ overall combination of Figures 1 and 2 with the hidden features being shown in shaded, Figure 4 is a rear view of the harness, Figure 5 is a detailed view of a sleeve arrangement through which part of the webbing of the harness is engaged, and Figure 6 is a part view of the overalls when the majority of the harness is located within the garment, the drawing showing by way of example the leg loops within the legs of the overalls.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS For the purposes of describing the present invention and illustrating its end use, the drawings show the harness/ overall combination in its preferred form in conjunction with a worker W.

The harness 10 consists of a bottom portion being made up of a waist strap 11, leg loop straps 13, waist strap adjustment buckle 14 and leg loop adjustment buckles 15. The buckles can include a release mechanism to enable the harness to be put on and removed. Such a release

mechanism could be a separate item adjacent the buckle or otherwise in the length of the strap.

An upper portion of the harness 10 consists of shoulder back straps 16 which extend from a lower anchorage point on the waist strap 11 to extend over the back and shoulders of the user to pass down the front of the user and connect to the chest straps 17. Once again, the shoulder/back straps 16 join with the chest straps 17 via buckles 18. These buckles can provide for adjustment of the straps 16 and 17 to suit different builds of end user.

The majority of the bottom portion of the harness is located on the exterior of the overalls O. This provides easy access to buckles 14 and 15 for ease of adjustment/release. Also, D-rings 19 located with waist strap 11 for anchoring a pole strap are readily accessible.

The rear portion of the waist strap 11 is, however, threaded through a sleeve (as hereinafter described) on the inside of the overall O such that this portion of the waist strap 11 is located within the overalls O. A slit (or slits) 20 are formed in the overalls (see Figure 2)

to provide access for the leg loop straps 13. When one slit 20 is used a flap (not shown) can be domed over to close the slit (in a like manner to the domed flap disclosed hereafter) in all but the areas through which the straps locate.

Sleeves (as herein described) are likewise provided in the shoulders of the overalls O for the back/shoulder straps 16 and chest straps 17. A break in each sleeve will be provided in the vicinity of buckle 18 to provide access to the buckle. These sleeves ensure correct positioning of the straps and thereby ensure that in use the harness is worn correctly. The sleeve holding a portion of the waist strap 11 also ensures that the harness is held in its correct position. This correct location of the straps can ensure the harness does not unduly restrict movement of the user and also ensures greater comfort than may be experienced with a conventional harness.

An anchor point 21 is provided where the back/shoulder straps 16 cross over at the back of the user (see Figures 2 and 4). In the preferred form of the invention, the overalls O are of a sleeveless"bibbed" type, therefore the anchor 21 is located at about the same point that the straps from the bib front of the overalls meet with the back of the overalls. This can be seen in Figure 2. This anchor 21 provides a D-ring 22 to which a safety line can be fitted. Safety lines can, of

course, also be fitted in a conventional manner with D- rings 19 of the waist strap 11.

The harness webbing is made in accordance with standard and known manufacturing techniques. For example, the webbing can be of a high tenacity synthetic fibre with the load bearing webbing being at least 40mm in width.

The webbing can be woven on a shuttle-less loom with all threads lock-joined. Threads used for stitching are made from high tenacity synthetic fibre.

The minimum breaking strength of the webbing of the harness will be no less than 15kN with the securing buckles and adjusters being able to withstand a 5kN load without permanent distortion. Anchorage attachments (eg for D-rings 19 and 22) will be secured on the straight bar of the ring so that the load bearing webbing passes through the ring.

Figure 5 of the drawings shows one form of sleeve 23 which can be used within the overalls O to accept and retain the webbing of the harness. In its simplest form, the sleeve can be a length of material sewn along its longitudinal edges but not at its ends, thereby leaving a tunnel within and through which the webbing can be located.

In a preferred form of the invention, the sleeve 23 can be a length of suitable material stitched along one

longitudinal edge 24. The other longitudinal edge 25 can be provided with one half of a hook/pile connector. The other half of the hook/pile connector is sewn to the material of the overalls. Thus, longitudinal edge 25 can be readily attached and detached from the overall.

With a sleeve 23 of this form, the webbing of the harness can be readily removed thereby enabling the harness to be separated from the overalls such that the overalls can be laundered. It is also anticipated that the safety harness will outlast the life of the overalls due to the physical nature of the work normally conducted by those wearing the overalls. Therefore, if the overalls get damaged or simply wear out, a replacement pair of overalls can be purchased and the harness inserted therein.

The overalls can be of conventional construction except for the additional features of the sleeves 23 and slits 20.

For additional comfort, padding or additional material thickness can be provided on the overalls at the intended interface between the webbing and the overalls.

Alternatively, padding can be applied to the webbing itself at strategic positions where chaffing, pressure points or discomfort are likely to arise.

With the harness integrated into the pair of overalls, the worker simply slips on the overalls and at the same time the harness is located in correct position.

Typically, the buckles 14,15 and 18 will be of a readily adjustable type so that tightness of the harness can be achieved once the overalls have been put on and loosened to enable the overalls to be removed. Equally, these buckles could be of a type able to be released when the worker wishes to remove the overalls.

The integration of the harness with the overalls ensures that not only is the harness always worn when the overalls are worn but also the harness is located and held in its correct position. With only part of the webbing of the harness exposed, the fact that the user is wearing a harness is not readily visible. Indeed, by suitable colouring of the webbing and other aesthetic markings on the overalls (eg for high visibility purposes) the presence of the harness webbing can be further disguised.

In a further form of the invention the harness webbing can be fully located within the confines of the overalls so that only the anchor rings 19 and 22 are readily visible. In such an arrangement the webbing is suitably located within the overalls by use, where necessary, of additional sleeves. In such an arrangement, the overalls are provided with openings 26 e. g. in each leg L (see

Figure 6) to provide access to the adjustment buckles, 14,15 and 18. These access openings 26 can be covered by flaps 27 which are fastened in a closed position by any suitable known means such as domes 28, or buttons and the like, though more preferably a hook/pile type fastening arrangement will be used.

Other modifications within the scope of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.