Anchorages are the third element of the fall-protection system, and are equally as important as the harness and the connection system. Anchorages for fall-arrest must have a minimum strength of 15 kN, and for work positioning a minimum strength of 12 kN.

For horizontal life-lines, in which multiplication of the applied force can occur, anchorage strength should match the strength of the line, which is 44 kN in the case of 10 mm steel wire.

Anchorages can take a large number of forms, depending on the work site. In many cases an engineering assessment will be required. Often collared eye-bolts are installed in the building. On concrete buildings a simple method is to drill holes and use adhesive to fix the bolts. An alternative is to place expansion bolts (of 12 mm diameter), and then fit eye-nuts to the bolts. In many cases there are suitable structures to which webbing slings can be attached, or sometimes an entire plant room on top of a building can be used as an anchorage by tying a rope around it.

On steel structures anchor points can be fitted by welding steel eyes to the structure. On lattice structures such as broadcast towers and electricity reticulation pylons, the steelwork itself can be used by wrapping webbing slings around the steel members, and also by connecting directly to the structure using a suitably large connecting hook.

Roofs present particular difficulties in obtaining anchors. On commercial buildings with flat roofs there may be guard-rails at the edge of the roof, but often these are not strong enough for anchorages. Pitched roofs present few opportunities for anchoring. There are some commercial roof anchors available, but they are not always practical or cost-effective to use in every situation. Often ground anchors must be used – see the section on roof work.