Published by Programme B
The roofs on residential and commercial buildings are hardly ever designed with foot traffic in mind. Unfortunately, this makes working on a roof a rather dangerous and daunting endeavor.
Still, construction workers, building inspectors, and other professionals have to work on rooftops for different reasons from time to time. These range from anything to solar installations, roof repair work, and so on. Whichever the case, safety should be your number one priority.
What are some of the ways roof construction sites can be made safer to work on?
1. Fall Protection
A roof fall protection system is a system that is installed on a roof to keep everyone on the rooftop safe. There are two main types of roof fall protection system.
- The first is a warning line system. This allows you to mark off the work area and give visual support. These efforts help people avoid accidents. Some of the advantages of warning lines is that they are inexpensive, quick to install, and effective. They also don’t require the roof to be perforated for their installation, which is an added advantage.
- The other one is a guard rail system. This is considered much safer than the warning line, and again, no perforations are made to the roof. This system attaches itself to the roof’s surface using its rubber base.
Once installed, a guard rail system protects people on the roof, more so when working close to the edges.
2. Harnesses
A harness is a basic individual line of protection for roof workers. This comes as part of the more comprehensive fall arrest system. This system includes the harness, a lanyard, rope, roof anchor, and grab rope.
Harnesses are not a one-size-fits-all, and project managers or constructors should find the best harnesses depending on the job.
One thing to take into consideration is the height of the building. Depending on how high a building is, you might want to go for retractable lanyards instead of fixed-length ones.
3. Clear The Roof Out
Depending on its design, some building’s roofs are multipurpose. For example, residents of buildings with flat roofs at times use the roofs as recreational spaces.
While this is fine during ordinary times, it can be very dangerous to allow this access when construction is imminent.
Non-construction workers have no safety gear and are unlikely to have any construction safety training. As a result, having them on the roof is hazardous not only from the risk of falls but also by equipment and tools left lying around by workers during breaks.
Be Proactive
When it comes to safety and construction, you want to be on the defense for numerous reasons. The key among them is that you want to ensure the safety of your workers and other people in and around the building.
The second one is that negligence could lead to litigation, or worse still, loss of life.
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