To help prevent the possibility of protection failure it is important that any falls taken do not exceed a fall factor of 1. To be able to insure this, protection should be placed
- (1) as soon as possible after leaving the belay,
- (2) at reasonable distances apart,
- (3) just before cruxes, and
- (4) as often as is needed throughout the pitch.
A potential fall will have the lowest fall factor if the maximum amount of rope is available to catch the shortest possible fall.
Any fall that generates a fall factor of 1 should be considered dangerous (!) and above a fall factor of 1, critical (q). A fall factor higher than 1 could possibly generate more energy than your protection can withstand and result in possible failure.