Does Your Building Have the Roof Fall Protection It Needs?
As a property owner or facility manager, you are responsible for protecting everyone who visits or works in your commercial buildings. You must also take measures to keep everyone who works ON your buildings safe. Having a roof fall protection system in place helps ensure you’re fulfilling that responsibility.
What Is Roof Fall Protection?
Roof fall protection helps prevent fall-related accidents (and injuries) associated with rooftop hazards, such as the roof’s edge, skylights, damaged areas on a roof, and drop-offs between multi-level roofs.
A roof safety system protects roofers, inspectors, HVAC technicians, electricians, and maintenance personnel. While roofing contractors should have their own safety programs and fall prevention systems for their workers, property owners must also pay attention to safeguarding contracted workers and employees.
Types of Roof Fall Protection Systems
There are two main categories of roof fall protection: Active and Passive.
Active
Active fall protection systems have dynamic parts and require workers to use/wear specialized equipment to prevent or stop a fall. A harnessed worker is attached by a lanyard and safety line to an anchoring point in an active fall protection system. Contractors are responsible for their workers’ personal fall protection safety gear. Building owners usually provide tie-down or anchor points on the peak of the roof where workers can clip in and attach their personal safety equipment. Building owners must provide all components of an active system if their own workers will inspect the roof, perform maintenance, or go up on the roof for any other reason.
Types of Active Systems
- Fall Restraint System—A fall restraint system typically uses a fixed-length safety line to prevent a worker’s center of gravity from extending past the roof’s edge.
- Fall Arrest System—In a fall arrest system, the goal is to stop a fall in progress before the worker hits a lower level (e.g., another roof or the ground). These systems often consist of a safety harness, retractable lanyard, and anchors.
A relatively new option in flat roof fall protection is an active system featuring a movable, weighted cart that workers can raise onto the roof, position and secure it where they need it, and clip onto it with their harnesses and safety lines.
Passive
Passive Systems are stationary devices that do not involve the worker using personal fall protection equipment (although workers still need an active system if working beyond the boundaries of a passive system).
Types of Passive Systems
- Guardrails—Guardrails are primarily used for rooftop perimeter fall protection and safety around roof hatches. Permanent guardrails are built into a building at the time of its construction or retrofitted (cemented in) later. Portable systems, such as those consisting of cast-iron plates with guardrails attached, allow building owners the flexibility to take their fall protection system with them if their business moves to another location.
- Parapet walls—A parapet wall is a low protective wall along a roof’s edge. It serves as a barrier to prevent people from falling off the building. Parapet walls also have other advantages; they offer some protection against wind and help block debris from landing on the roof.
- Warning lines—Warning lines mark off safe working areas and alert workers to unprotected edges of elevated surfaces. OSHA requires they be erected on all sides of the roof work area.
- Screens and covers—Covers or metal screening are solutions used to prevent workers from stepping into skylights, vents, and other roof openings.
- Netting—Roof safety netting serves as an additional measure around guard rails to catch workers if they fall. It’s also used (and may be required) to prevent debris and roof materials from falling and potentially injuring people on the ground.
Building owners and facility managers should mandate their contractors to wear active systems on roofs without a passive system or if working beyond the boundaries of a passive system. They should also have Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for contractors and a safety monitor on-site to ensure workers follow those rules. Sadly, workers sometimes get remiss in protecting themselves (e.g., putting on their harnesses but not clipping into the anchor point). SOPs and on-site monitoring help encourage compliance and reduce the potential for accidents.
Fall Protection by Roof Type
The best type of system and safety measures for your building will largely depend on whether you have a flat or sloped roof.
Flat
Typically, passive systems are most beneficial for flat roofs. A flat roof doesn’t require fall protection in the middle, just at the edges. Railing systems are popular choices for flat roofs. If no railing is in place, workers must be clipped into an active system (personal fall protection) whenever getting within 6 feet of the building’s edge. Because that’s more cumbersome and time-consuming, workers might neglect to comply—and your business could end up with an OSHA fine, or a contractor could get kicked off the job if a safety monitor catches the violation.
A railing system isn’t required if a facility has a flat roof surrounded by a parapet wall 42 inches high (+/- 3 inches) above the working/walking level.
Low Slope
While passive systems may be used on some low-sloped roofs, they generally aren’t practical and don’t look aesthetically appealing. So active systems are most commonly used on low- and high-sloped roofs. If using a roofing contractor, that company or individual is responsible for their own personal fall protection gear, with building owners being responsible for providing tie-down points at the peak of the roof for the workers to connect to. Building owners whose own employees work on the roof are responsible for providing both passive and active protection systems.
Does It Matter What Your Roof Is Made Of?
Generally, roofing materials—such as metal, shingle, EDPM, single-ply, foam, tar and gravel, PVC, or TPO—don’t dictate which type of roofing fall protection is required. Whether or not the roof is pitched is the primary consideration. However, the roofing material may influence which systems will be more practical and easy to install.
Benefits of Having a Rooftop Fall Protection System
1. Avoiding OSHA Fines and Penalties
Generally, local building codes don’t address roof fall protection, but OSHA does.
Section 1910 Subpart D of the Occupational Safety and Health Standards requires employers to provide protection for employees exposed to falls and falling object hazards.
Building owners must ensure that each employee on a walking-working surface with an unprotected side or edge that is 4 feet or more above a lower level is protected from falling by one or more of the following safety measures:
- Guardrail systems
- Safety net systems
- Personal fall protection systems (such as personal fall arrest, travel restraint, or positioning system)
Also, OSHA mandates employers to protect employees from falling through holes that are 4 feet or more above a lower level by requiring they install covers, guardrail systems, travel restraint systems, or personal fall arrest systems.
Additionally, employers must use covers or guardrail systems to protect employees from tripping into or stepping through any hole that is less than 4 feet above a lower level.
OSHA’s safety rules for low-slope roofs state that when work is performed less than 6 feet from the roof’s edge, the employer must protect employees from falling by a guardrail system, safety net system, travel restraint system, or personal fall arrest system.
When employees perform work at least 6 feet but less than 15 feet from the roof’s edge, the employer must protect them from falling by using a guardrail system, safety net system, travel restraint system, or personal fall arrest system. When work is performed 15 feet or more from the roof’s edge, the employer can mark a designated safety area for performing the work—or they must protect each employee from falling by using a guardrail system, safety net system, travel restraint system, or personal fall arrest system.
Exceptions to these rules apply if the work performed is infrequent and temporary. Under those circumstances, the employer may mark a designated safety area instead, provided they implement and enforce a work rule prohibiting employees from going within 15 feet of the roof’s edge without using fall protection.
OSHA’s current maximum penalty amounts are listed on the agency’s website:
- $15,625 per violation for Serious, Other-Than-Serious, and Posting Requirement violations
- $15,625 per day beyond the abatement date for Failure to Abate (i.e., failure to resolve a violation)
- $156,259 per violation for Willful or Repeated violations
In states that operate their own occupational safety and health plans, the maximum penalty levels are the same or more than the Federal OHSH penalties.
2. Getting Business Insurance Coverage
Without a roof fall safety system, a business may find it challenging to get a commercial liability insurance policy or get approved for a preferred rate. Also, if an injury or property damage happens due to a fall, an insurance company might deny the claim if adequate roof fall protection measures weren’t in place.
3. Reducing Liability
Generally, roofing contractors are responsible for their workers’ safety. However, if someone falls from a commercial roof and the building doesn’t have proper safety protections in place, it could result in a lawsuit against the building owner’s company (and possibly even the building owner or facility manager personally if they are deemed negligent).
The Role of Regular Roof Maintenance
Regular roof maintenance can help prevent the unmitigated disaster of someone falling through a roof or tripping on loose roofing material and other debris. Roofs with a wood substrate or metal decking can succumb to water damage and pose a fall-through risk.
Scheduled roof inspections detect if roof elements are intact and identify if anything needs to be repaired to ensure performance and safety. Finding and fixing minor leaks before they compromise the integrity of the roof and the structure beneath it complements other fall protection measures.
Optimally, building owners should consider a roof care maintenance program in addition to a fall protection plan. A roof care service plan will ensure regular inspections take place and small problems are detected and repaired early on—before they create larger issues.
Tips for Choosing a Fall Protection Installation Company
When looking for a fall protection system installer, ask the same questions you would ask a roofing contractor:
- What type of safety program do you have in place to protect your workers and our employees?
- What training and certification do your workers have?
- What are your procedures for when an accident happens?
- Have you had any OSHA violations?
- Do you have insurance?
Also, ask for references so you can get direct input from other customers about the installation company’s attention to safety measures, ability to deliver quality workmanship, and other aspects of their experience with the contractor.
Your due diligence from the start will secure your peace of mind and confidence that you’ve selected a capable, responsible, knowledgeable resource.
We’re Here to Help You With Your Commercial Roof Fall Protection Needs
As you can see, there’s much to consider when deciding on a roof fall protection system. At Capital Roof Care, we take a consultative approach and help you make an informed purchasing decision. We look at your facility, assess your roof, determine the OSHA and other requirements, consider your budget, and propose solutions that will make the most sense for your situation. We want to provide the best solution for the best price.
Moreover, we walk the walk! Capital Roof Care requires (without compromise) our employees to wear active, personal safety gear, and all our workers undergo intensive safety training. You’re in the most capable hands when we’re at your site and on your roof.
Want peace of mind? Contact us to schedule an appointment to discuss fall protection systems for your roof.