Fall protection system

A fall protection system that is fixedly mountable to a vertical ladder having a pair of spaced vertical legs and a plurality of spaced transversely mounted rungs, comprising:

• a top bracket assembly configured to be mountable to a rung on the top portion of the ladder, wherein the top bracket assembly comprises:
• an elongated vertical member having a lower portion and an upper portion;
• and
• a horizontal member having a proximal portion that is integrally coupled to the upper portion of the ladder, wherein the horizontal member extends outwardly therefrom the upper portion of the vertical member and defines an interior cavity proximate a distal portion of the horizontal member, wherein a bottom surface of the horizontal member defines a slot that extends substantially vertically therein the horizontal member and that is sized and shaped to accept a rung of the ladder;
• a bottom bracket assembly configured to be mountable to a bottom portion of the ladder, wherein the bottom bracket assembly comprises:
• a support member;
• a spacing member;
• and
• a trough member configured to be fixedly mounted spaced legs of the bottom portion of the ladder, the trough member comprising:
• a first planer member, wherein the first planer member is coupled to a distal edge of the spacing member and extends downwardly away from a juncture of the first planer member and the spacing member at an acute angle β relative to the support member;
• a second planer member, wherein the second planer member is coupled to a portion of a distal edge of the first planer member and extends outwardly transverse to the first planer member;
• and
• a third planer member, wherein the third planer member is coupled to a distal edge of the second planer member and extends transverse to the second planer member;
• and
• a cable extending therebetween portions of the top bracket assembly and the bottom bracket assembly,
• wherein the spacing member defines an opening that is configured to operatively accept an eye bolt, wherein the eye bolt is secured relative to the horizontal member by a compression assembly positioned between a least one nut operatively received onto a threaded end of a shaft of the eye bolt and a bottom surface of the spacing member, wherein the compression assembly comprises a plurality of compression washers that are operatively received onto the shaft of the eye bolt and are configured to compress under a known load, and wherein the cable is operably coupled to the respective top and bottom bracket assemblies under a desired tension load sufficient to space the cable from a plane of the ladder.