“How much weight can it hold?” is the most common question we get — and the honest answer is that the number on the cord is only a third of the story. Here’s how lanyard strength actually works, so you can judge any product, including ours.
Breaking strain vs working load
Breaking strain is the load at which a new cord fails in a laboratory pull test. Working load is what you should actually hang from it day to day — conventionally a fraction of breaking strain, because real life adds shock loads (a dropped tool snapping to the end of its tether can briefly multiply its static weight several times over), wear, and knots or crimps that concentrate stress.
The chain is the fittings, not the cord
Braided kevlar cord is rarely the weak point in a lanyard — the fibre is roughly five times stronger than steel by weight. Failures almost always happen at the connections: split rings that unwind under load, spring clips with thin gates, and glued or crimped terminations. When you compare lanyards, look at the fittings and how the cord is terminated into them. This is why we rate and test the assembled unit, not just the cord.
What different lanyards realistically handle
• Retractable badge reels: designed for badges — tens of grams. Springs and nozzles fail quickly beyond that.
• Nylon straps and paracord: fine static strength when new, but stretch under load and lose strength with abrasion and UV.
• Coated wire coils: strong core, but strength collapses once the coating cracks and the wire kinks.
• Braided kevlar coils: comfortably handle keys, radios, scanners and hand tools — the everyday professional load range — with minimal stretch and no loss of recoil.
A note on safety-critical work at height
Equipment lanyards are for retention — stopping drops and losses. If you’re tethering tools above other people, follow your site’s dropped-object prevention rules and use fittings appropriate to the tool weight; and no equipment lanyard is ever a substitute for certified fall- protection gear for people.
Want the material science? Read our complete guide to kevlar cord, or browse the kevlar lanyard range.