Commercial roof safety

woko · Feb 24, 2013

Morning all,

Would anybody mind sharing safety tips for working on single skin metal sheet barn roofs. I have 1 10Kw to do and i've just priced a 30Kw.

Do you use safety nets, crawler boards or fall arrest harnesses? or a combination of all three.

Does anybody have an idea of cost to safety net a 40m by 6m barn roof?

Thanks for any help. I dont want me or any of my crew getting injured on these jobs.

High Tower · Feb 24, 2013

Not my field of expertise but harnesses are!

You should NOT use fall arrest harnesses on a roof, as 1 of 3 things will happen in the event of a fall.

1, the fall arrest mech works by the webbing stitching splitting and the webbing parting to a dedicated stop point. This means that some fall arrest lanyards have a fully deployed length of almost 7m, on most single storey warehouses he would have hit the ground before it caught him

2, if the building is high enough then once the fall arrest has caught him then it will swing him pendulum style, like a Polaris missile into the side of the building, hurting him badly or killing him, and then you have to get him down.

3, in the event of a fall arrest harness catching someone, you have a maximum of 20 mins to get them down before toxic shock kills them, for this reason you need a robust rescue plan that sees them down quickly and safely and you cannot rely on the brigade to get them down. So you would need to have a picker there just to get them down and a well rehearsed routine.

What you need Is a full restraint system with a strategically placed run wire from one side of the roof to another, a restraint lanyard set at the right length. That way no one can get close enough to the edge to fall off.

I would assume on a single skin roof you would Also require some kind of cat walk as I would not feel comfortable walking around up there!

Earthstore · Feb 24, 2013

I do not want to appear rude, but should you not have considered this before you priced these jobs up.
To do them properly could and £1000's to your quotation.

Have you had a structural survey conducted on these buildings?

Worcester · Feb 24, 2013

All comemrcial roofs you need structural calcs for both the dead (installed) and live (construction and maintenance) loads, before you start.

Netting for a 30kWp job can cost £3k depending upon complexity - e.g. you can't install netting with bullocks below - the WILL trample and KILL you, so stock needs moving.

Netting is an 'after the event' measure. You'll need edge protection as well as restraint systems to prevent in the first place. We regularly spend £3k - £5k on such measures. PLUS you need to consider your materials handling.

solgen · Feb 24, 2013

I too have a 30kW job but is on a modern trapezoidal 10 degree slope roof.

Building height 8M, length 40M.

The whole roof will be covered subject to structural report

Is it usual to put scaffold up along the whole length of the building?

Worcester · Feb 24, 2013

Is it usual to put scaffold up along the whole length of the building?

Yes
Though not 'scaffold' per se, often edge protection

[ElectriciansForums.net] Commercial roof safety

solgen · Feb 24, 2013

Worcester said:
Yes
Though not 'scaffold' per se, often edge protectionView attachment 17453

Thanks Worcester - Edge protection is what I was thinking of!

To get all equipment upto the roof do you recommend a telehandler or is there a better/cheaper alternative

JD6400 · Feb 24, 2013

In my opinion a telehandler was an essential piece of kit .
Along with a load out platform , even though we could still just position a pallet of panels exactly where it was needed with the Merlo .

Gavin A · Feb 24, 2013

woko said:
Morning all,

Would anybody mind sharing safety tips for working on single skin metal sheet barn roofs. I have 1 10Kw to do and i've just priced a 30Kw.

Do you use safety nets, crawler boards or fall arrest harnesses? or a combination of all three.

Does anybody have an idea of cost to safety net a 40m by 6m barn roof?

Thanks for any help. I dont want me or any of my crew getting injured on these jobs.

a metal roof is not usually classed as fragile, so you only usually need edge protection (eg scaffolding), unless it has skylights in the roof, which would be fragile and fall protection would be needed for them.

tbh though if you're competent to do this work then you should know this really, if you don't know it then I'd advise you get a specialist safety consultant on board to guide you through it.

SolarCity · Feb 24, 2013

Also, make sure your insurance covers you for working at this height - some don't.

Worcester · Feb 24, 2013

All depends how long you've got and the cost of labour. To use a telehandler you'll need someone with a licence. On farms they tend to have one about and someone with a licence so that makes it simple.
You could use a Geda Hoist - they have attachments for panels.

SolarCity · Feb 24, 2013

...or you could get the scaffolder to build you a stairway.

Earthstore · Feb 24, 2013

Also when damp or wet walking on a metal roof is like walking on ice.

High Tower · Feb 24, 2013

Gavin A said:
a metal roof is not usually classed as fragile, so you only usually need edge protection (eg scaffolding), unless it has skylights in the roof, which would be fragile and fall protection would be needed for them.

tbh though if you're competent to do this work then you should know this really, if you don't know it then I'd advise you get a specialist safety consultant on board to guide you through it.

A lot of the roofs on metal skinned warehouses and similar have warming fragile roof notices so is be very wary

Gavin A · Feb 24, 2013

High Tower said:
A lot of the roofs on metal skinned warehouses and similar have warming fragile roof notices so is be very wary

I thought that was usually related to the roof lights, unless the roof is rusted or something.

Metal sheets
– where corroded;

is how the HSE puts it

thought they also say this I suppose

A fragile material is one that does not
safely support the weight of a person and any load they are carrying. The fragility of
a roof does not depend solely on the composition of the material in it, the following
factors are also important:
■ thickness of the material;
■ the span between supports;
■ sheet profile;
■ the type, number, position and quality of fixings;
■ the design of the supporting structure, eg the purlins; and
■ the age of the material.

so you'd need to assess the fragility of the metal roof covering, but IMO the majority of relatively new and none rusty metal roofs wouldn't be considered fragile themselves (in terms of taking the weight of a person), but any roof lights usually would. This isn't to say that it's a good idea jumping about on them, and you need to be aware of and avoid / board over any areas that get bent, or cracked before or during the work.

Construction - Fragile surfaces industry health & safety
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg284.pdf

Commercial roof safety

woko

High Tower

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Earthstore

Worcester

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solgen

Worcester

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solgen

JD6400

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Attachments

Gavin A

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SolarCity

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Worcester

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SolarCity

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Earthstore

High Tower

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Gavin A

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