A system for monitoring the status and condition of a fall protection harness and of a person using the fall protection harness, the system comprising: a computer processor operable to: transmit a signal to a body area network (BAN) associated with a person; receive BAN data from the BAN; and wherein the BAN comprises an accelerometer and a body contact sensor ; and wherein the computer processor is operable to: receive data from the accelerometer ; determine , as a function of the data from the accelerometer , that the person associated with the fall protection harness has fallen when the data from the accelerometer indicates a sudden increase in acceleration that is shortly followed by a rapid deceleration to zero; generate a signal as a function of the determination that the person associated with the fall protection harness has fallen; receive data from the body contact sensor ; calculate an amount of time that the fall protection harness has been in use by the person as a function of the data from the body contact sensor ; add the amount of time that the fall protection harness has been in use by the person to an accumulated amount of time that the fall protection harness has been in use by any person; calculate the end of life of the fall protection harness as a function of the accumulated amount of time that the fall protection harness has been in use by any person; and generate a signal as a function of the calculated end of life of the fall protection harness. transmit a signal to a body area network (BAN) associated with a person; receive BAN data from the BAN; and wherein the BAN comprises an accelerometer and a body contact sensor ; and wherein the computer processor is operable to: receive data from the accelerometer ; determine , as a function of the data from the accelerometer , that the person associated with the fall protection harness has fallen when the data from the accelerometer indicates a sudden increase in acceleration that is shortly followed by a rapid deceleration to zero; generate a signal as a function of the determination that the person associated with the fall protection harness has fallen; receive data from the body contact sensor ; calculate an amount of time that the fall protection harness has been in use by the person as a function of the data from the body contact sensor ; add the amount of time that the fall protection harness has been in use by the person to an accumulated amount of time that the fall protection harness has been in use by any person; calculate the end of life of the fall protection harness as a function of the accumulated amount of time that the fall protection harness has been in use by any person; and generate a signal as a function of the calculated end of life of the fall protection harness. receive data from the accelerometer ; determine , as a function of the data from the accelerometer , that the person associated with the fall protection harness has fallen when the data from the accelerometer indicates a sudden increase in acceleration that is shortly followed by a rapid deceleration to zero; generate a signal as a function of the determination that the person associated with the fall protection harness has fallen; receive data from the body contact sensor ; calculate an amount of time that the fall protection harness has been in use by the person as a function of the data from the body contact sensor ; add the amount of time that the fall protection harness has been in use by the person to an accumulated amount of time that the fall protection harness has been in use by any person; calculate the end of life of the fall protection harness as a function of the accumulated amount of time that the fall protection harness has been in use by any person; and generate a signal as a function of the calculated end of life of the fall protection harness. <EOS>