Preventing Falls From Roofs
According to a 2020 HSE publication (Booklet HSG33) roof works account for 25% of all deaths in the construction industry. Above all, it is critical to ensure that the general roof area is strong enough to walk on, if in doubt it may require a remote survey by a structural engineer. It is well established best-practice to follow the Working at Height hierarchy of protection methods:
1. Avoid working at height if at all possible.
2. If working at height cannot be avoided, define a safe place to work where preventative measures are already installed eg. a wall or large plant/duct prevents access to the unguarded edge.
3. If no safe place to work already exists, employ collective fall protection systems eg. surrounding the roof with Alvin Freestand.
4. If a collective protection system cannot be installed, use personal protective equipment (PPE) eg. Fall Restraint or Fall Arrest as a last resort. Please call us on 0208 254 2626 if you get to this stage, our collective systems are highly adaptable to almost any roof.
Alvin Key Clamp have a range of products to help you at stage three of the hierarchy above. Collective fall protection is the preferred first step when planning any work on a roof where there is no safe work area defined. This is because it protects anybody, where as PPE requires specialist training and only protects the wearer. PPE can also present risks itself, such as harness trauma, and will require complex rescue plans.These systems can be divided into two main areas, protecting users from reaching an unguarded edge, and protecting users from potentially fragile roof components.
Roof Edge Protection: The Alvin Freestand range provides a variety of options for non-penetrative edge protection to meet the new BS13700:2021 standard for permanent freestanding guardrails on roofs. Economical counterbalanced guardrail forms the cheapest way to protect an edge, while our premium compact counterweighted option minimises the footprint, especially useful for Solar PV installations.
Fragile Roof Element protection: Alvin Skylight Cover and Alvin Dome Guard provide two excellent options for minimising the risk of the most common fall from a roof, falling though a skylight or vent. Skylights can become brittle with age and with the build-up of moss, dirt and debris they can be hard to distinguish from the surrounding metal panels. Alvin Skylight Cover is designed to withstand a person falling onto it, and Alvin Dome guard is a specialist version of our popular Freestand Compact range designed to prevent or control access to larger objects in particular skylights, smoke vents or hatches that need to open outwards.
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