They didn't know/ didn't tell us

I don't think they discovered the suspension trauma thing until a good while after harnesses came out. It ain't no joke, and can kill you deader'n hell in about 15 minutes! I was happy as a clam when we got full harnesses instead of the old waist belts. I never got wound up in the lanyard with the harness like I did with the ones on a waist belt. I worked on power lines out of a bucket from 1978 until 2005. In a bucket was the only time we wore a waist belt or harness. The body belt and safety that I climbed with was an entirely different thing.