A self-retracting lanyard system includes a self-retracting lanyard having a main body and a retractable line, a harness connected to the retractable line and wearable by the user of the self-retracting lanyard, and an electronic device disposable on the harness. The electronic device includes an accelerometer, a processor or programmable circuit, and a non-transitory program storage medium on which are stored instructions executable by the processor or programmable circuit to perform operations including receiving a measurement from the accelerometer, comparing the measurement to a threshold, detecting that the user of the self-retracting lanyard has fallen based on a result of the comparing, and instructing a wireless transmitter to transmit a wireless signal in response to the detection that the user has fallen.