Time to dust off your roof safety awareness - as the renovation and construction craze swings into action this Spring and you climb back on top of those homes and buildings.
Spring is an ideal time to tackle roof repairs - the howling winter winds have subsided and the searing summer heat hasn’t yet arrived. Not to mention that spring showers are a good indicator of exactly where those roof leaks are located!
Workers risking their necks
But roof work involves the risk of falling, which is the leading cause of death in the construction industry. In fact, falling accidents across all sectors account for a whopping 19 percent of non-fatal injuries at work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
One-third of all deaths in construction result from a fall. And the
construction industry ranks as one of the top 10 deadliest sectors in the U.S. with a fatality rate of 22.7 dead per 100,000 workers.
Yet you can walk past a construction site pretty much anywhere in North America and likely see at least one worker not wearing proper fall protection equipment, or wearing it properly.
Just the act of getting to the roof can be dangerous! More than 300 people in North America die each year from ladder-related falls, and countless more are injured on ladders.
Ladder safety 101
When you using a ladder, you should
• make sure the feet of the ladder are on solid ground so the ladder doesn’t shift
• make sure the ladder is a good safe distance from tree branches and electrical lines
• do not lean over the side of the ladder once you are on the ladder.
Scaffolding is another big-time source of workplace injury. The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) listed scaffolding as the number-one OSHA violation in 2006.
Tips for safe scaffolding
• When erecting scaffolding, make sure that each level has a full deck of planks before moving on to the next level.
• Each level of the scaffold should remain in place until it is dismantled; this greatly reduces the harm caused by people and objects falling within the scaffolding.
• Guardrails on the scaffolding should be in place at all times.
• Easy access for workers, whether using a stairway or ladder, should built during the construction of the scaffolding and not after the fact.
Wear a fall arrest system
Once you’re up on the roof, you want to stay there. If you’re more than six feet off the ground (certainly the case for all roofs!) you should be wearing a fall arrest system, which includes a safety harness, an anchorage and a deceleration device such as a lanyard, a length of rope or wire that slows you down before you come to a stop.
Safety harnesses come in vest and full body designs. Full body designs, which offer more areas of support, are best for women and men five feet, seven inches tall or shorter. The vest style works best for men with more mass and height.
No matter which design you choose, make sure you have a comfortable fit with the buckles and chest strap in the right places. An ill-fitting harness could injure, or fail to support you, in the event of a fall.
Up on the roof, make sure you’ve got the right safety equipment - beyond harness gear, you should always
• Wear
work gloves to protect your hands from cuts and abrasions while you’re hammering in those shingle nails.
• Protect your feet from dropped tools by wearing a good pair of work boots.
• Don a hard hat at all times on the job; it should fit your head well and be in good shape.
Don’t risk your life or your livelihood - get the right safety gear and use it.
Cooper Lang is a workplace safety advocate. He holds a full time job in an unrelated field; however, due to the experiences of family in the industrial sector, he has decided to bring the topic of safety in the workplace to the forefront. He is a freelance writer for WorkSafely.com – a site dedicated to
Workplace Safety offering unique information on things like
Personal Protective Equipment.
