Someone just fell off your roof.
BAM! IT WAS THAT FAST.
Now, what are the consequences?
Zero life-safety fall protection for the man up top ... unfortunately common.
So ... not only does he put himself (and dependents) at risk; he places his employer at risk as well as the building owner's time and assets.
So ... not only does he put himself (and dependents) at risk; he places his employer at risk as well as the building owner's time and assets.
Note from the founder to building owners:
I've spoken with thousands of roofers, contractors, adjusters and business owners across the country - at job sites, trainings, parking lots, and trade shows. Almost everyone knows someone who has fallen from a roof, and everyone who has fallen regrets it.
While the IRC currently doesn't require permanent life-safety fall protection anchors, OSHA does require employers to protect workers from falls over six feet - and that includes your roof.
"Safety First" isn't a slogan. For reputable contractors, it means safer workers, better workmanship, fewer callbacks, less liability, and lower long-term costs for everyone. "Safety First" for building owners is your first line of defense against lawsuits and settlements. "Safety First" is a win for building owners, contractors, and workers alike. Beware the low-bidding contractors who commonly cut safety through "value engineering". It's risky, and costly to the building owners and workers.
Real safety isn't wishful thinking. It's planned, built, and maintained. It may cost more upfront, but it saves far more in injuries, liability, downtime, and repairs.
Gloves are cheaper than stitches.
Safety glasses are cheaper than the ER.
Helmets are cheaper than brain injuries.
Permanent life-safety anchors are cheaper than one serious fall.
Anchor in. Live long!
Ronny Roseveare,
Slator LLC,
Petzl Technical Partner
Blue Glass LLC
I've spoken with thousands of roofers, contractors, adjusters and business owners across the country - at job sites, trainings, parking lots, and trade shows. Almost everyone knows someone who has fallen from a roof, and everyone who has fallen regrets it.
While the IRC currently doesn't require permanent life-safety fall protection anchors, OSHA does require employers to protect workers from falls over six feet - and that includes your roof.
"Safety First" isn't a slogan. For reputable contractors, it means safer workers, better workmanship, fewer callbacks, less liability, and lower long-term costs for everyone. "Safety First" for building owners is your first line of defense against lawsuits and settlements. "Safety First" is a win for building owners, contractors, and workers alike. Beware the low-bidding contractors who commonly cut safety through "value engineering". It's risky, and costly to the building owners and workers.
Real safety isn't wishful thinking. It's planned, built, and maintained. It may cost more upfront, but it saves far more in injuries, liability, downtime, and repairs.
Gloves are cheaper than stitches.
Safety glasses are cheaper than the ER.
Helmets are cheaper than brain injuries.
Permanent life-safety anchors are cheaper than one serious fall.
Anchor in. Live long!
Ronny Roseveare,
Slator LLC,
Petzl Technical Partner
Blue Glass LLC
Who fell?
You: The building owner.
Consequences: death, injury, lasting pain, medical bills, funeral expenses, loss of wages, financial and emotional suffering of your family, unfulfilled dreams.
Friend or Family Member just helping you.
Consequences: Regrets for life. Potential loss of a healthy close relationship. Death, injury, pain, medical bills, funeral expenses, loss of wages, financial and emotional suffering.
PLUS ... Medical payments from your building's insurance policy (unless they are a resident household member on your home insurance policy). Possible lawsuit, attorney fees, and settlement costs.
An Employee:
Consequences: Loss of life or injury to a treasured employee. OSHA investigation. Attorney fees. OSHA fines (especially high without documentation of training). Business reputation and employee morale suffers. Other employees may quit. Loss of production. Workers Compensation rates may rise. MOD rate suffers. Loss of opportunity to bid on specific jobs. Loss of competitive edge in the market place. Reputational damage. Possible lawsuit, and if your state required your business to carry workers compensation insurance and you did not ... then you most likely waived your legal defenses.
A Subcontractor on your property:
Consequences: Loss of life or injury. OSHA investigation. Attorney defense fees. Potential OSHA fines if it's at your business and you have employees. Loss of production/work at your site or business. If the subcontractor did not have their workers compensation policy in force (very likely because it is expensive), then expect their attorneys to work diligently to collect money from you, the HOA, liability policy or other assets. Expect headaches, meetings, and expenses.
Note: These consequences are per occurrence (Every time someone falls). If you don't budget for a permanent life-safety anchor system, you may as well begin budgeting for the consequences, which is a whole lot more. Expect a serious fall to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Factors that affect the consequences listed above:
Is this the first time someone has fallen off your building?
Why did they fall?
How badly are they hurt?
Will they walk again? If so, how painful will it be?
What does recovery look like?
What do they need to recover and how long before they to return to work?
What if they are permanently disabled or died?
What compensation are their family members (dependents) seeking?
How deep are your pockets?
What those who have fallen and survived say:
It was just going to take a minute.
I've never fallen before.
It was the last thing of the day.
I used fall protection all day and was done and on my way down.
I was just in a hurry.
I didn't think I was going to fall.
I could walk on that roof easily.
I've done this a hundred times before.
I didn't even have time to think. I woke up in the hospital.
There wasn't an anchor for me to hook onto.
I didn't want to put a hole in the roof (temporary anchor).
Learn the consequences of a fall.
Ask a fellow board member who has been through this process.
Ask your insurance company.
Ask your employees.
Ask someone who fell.
Ask any spouse or dependent of someone who fell.
Ask your attorney.
Ask OSHA.
It's never good and completely preventable.
You: The building owner.
Consequences: death, injury, lasting pain, medical bills, funeral expenses, loss of wages, financial and emotional suffering of your family, unfulfilled dreams.
Friend or Family Member just helping you.
Consequences: Regrets for life. Potential loss of a healthy close relationship. Death, injury, pain, medical bills, funeral expenses, loss of wages, financial and emotional suffering.
PLUS ... Medical payments from your building's insurance policy (unless they are a resident household member on your home insurance policy). Possible lawsuit, attorney fees, and settlement costs.
An Employee:
Consequences: Loss of life or injury to a treasured employee. OSHA investigation. Attorney fees. OSHA fines (especially high without documentation of training). Business reputation and employee morale suffers. Other employees may quit. Loss of production. Workers Compensation rates may rise. MOD rate suffers. Loss of opportunity to bid on specific jobs. Loss of competitive edge in the market place. Reputational damage. Possible lawsuit, and if your state required your business to carry workers compensation insurance and you did not ... then you most likely waived your legal defenses.
A Subcontractor on your property:
Consequences: Loss of life or injury. OSHA investigation. Attorney defense fees. Potential OSHA fines if it's at your business and you have employees. Loss of production/work at your site or business. If the subcontractor did not have their workers compensation policy in force (very likely because it is expensive), then expect their attorneys to work diligently to collect money from you, the HOA, liability policy or other assets. Expect headaches, meetings, and expenses.
Note: These consequences are per occurrence (Every time someone falls). If you don't budget for a permanent life-safety anchor system, you may as well begin budgeting for the consequences, which is a whole lot more. Expect a serious fall to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Factors that affect the consequences listed above:
Is this the first time someone has fallen off your building?
Why did they fall?
How badly are they hurt?
Will they walk again? If so, how painful will it be?
What does recovery look like?
What do they need to recover and how long before they to return to work?
What if they are permanently disabled or died?
What compensation are their family members (dependents) seeking?
How deep are your pockets?
What those who have fallen and survived say:
It was just going to take a minute.
I've never fallen before.
It was the last thing of the day.
I used fall protection all day and was done and on my way down.
I was just in a hurry.
I didn't think I was going to fall.
I could walk on that roof easily.
I've done this a hundred times before.
I didn't even have time to think. I woke up in the hospital.
There wasn't an anchor for me to hook onto.
I didn't want to put a hole in the roof (temporary anchor).
Learn the consequences of a fall.
Ask a fellow board member who has been through this process.
Ask your insurance company.
Ask your employees.
Ask someone who fell.
Ask any spouse or dependent of someone who fell.
Ask your attorney.
Ask OSHA.
It's never good and completely preventable.
Every building and roof requires periodic maintenance.
SLATOR permanent life-safety anchors are designed for use on your building.
Anchor in. Live long.
What if you don't have permanent life-safety anchors?
Is it reasonable to expect each worker to be an expert in fall protection and install their own anchor points on your building?
Absolutely not, and you certainly don't want them to start screwing things into your roof.
Fall Protection evaluation and installation is a hybrid of engineering, construction and climbing talents. Fall protection, "Lack of training." is one of the most frequent OSHA citations. OSHA requires fall protection anytime a potential fall hazard is greater than six feet. Each tradesperson trained to become competent in their specific trade. Unfortunately, very few people are also trained in how to choose an anchor type for their specific situation, how to install it properly in the right location and how to repair the roof damage their anchor creates.
Observe the painter. Observe the chimney worker. Observe the solar installer. Even, observe the roofer. Is the anchor installed according to the manufacturer's specifications - rarely. Is the rope tight enough to prevent the worker from falling over the eve - rarely. Are the anchors being overloaded by too many workers attaching to a single anchor point - often.
What will the worker do to your roof if they install a temporary anchor point instead of using a pre-planned permanent anchor?
OSHA's general anchor point requirement is that the anchor must successfully resist a 5,000 pound load per worker attached.
It takes extensive construction knowledge, and a unique skill set to install anchors properly, and much more skill and gear to maintain safety while installing the anchor point. Every penetration in a roof, every new hole ... is another potential leak point. Even experienced roofers do not want to put additional holes in a roof. Metal roofs are particularly hazardous. The panels are not rated for the loads required to meet OSHA's standards. The clips and fasteners holding the panels are not inspectable and temporary standing seam anchors for metal roofs easily damage the roof and don't resist potential side loads.
Will the workers go without fall protection entirely or install and use a temporary anchor improperly?
Unfortunately, this is likely. Falls off roofs remain a leading cause of death and injury in the workplace. You can reduce the chances of a fall, injury or death on your property by installing suitable permanent anchor points in the proper locations.
Can "safe" workers do better work?
Yes.
Your building can be safely maintained and it's easy to plan for it.
Require permanent life-safety anchor points in all:
New construction projects.
Renovation projects.
Re-Roof projects.
At the beginning of maintenance projects.
Be proactive.
"Take care of difficult problems while they are still easy." Lao Tzu 604-531 BC
SLATOR permanent life-safety anchors are designed for use on your building.
Anchor in. Live long.
What if you don't have permanent life-safety anchors?
Is it reasonable to expect each worker to be an expert in fall protection and install their own anchor points on your building?
Absolutely not, and you certainly don't want them to start screwing things into your roof.
Fall Protection evaluation and installation is a hybrid of engineering, construction and climbing talents. Fall protection, "Lack of training." is one of the most frequent OSHA citations. OSHA requires fall protection anytime a potential fall hazard is greater than six feet. Each tradesperson trained to become competent in their specific trade. Unfortunately, very few people are also trained in how to choose an anchor type for their specific situation, how to install it properly in the right location and how to repair the roof damage their anchor creates.
Observe the painter. Observe the chimney worker. Observe the solar installer. Even, observe the roofer. Is the anchor installed according to the manufacturer's specifications - rarely. Is the rope tight enough to prevent the worker from falling over the eve - rarely. Are the anchors being overloaded by too many workers attaching to a single anchor point - often.
What will the worker do to your roof if they install a temporary anchor point instead of using a pre-planned permanent anchor?
OSHA's general anchor point requirement is that the anchor must successfully resist a 5,000 pound load per worker attached.
It takes extensive construction knowledge, and a unique skill set to install anchors properly, and much more skill and gear to maintain safety while installing the anchor point. Every penetration in a roof, every new hole ... is another potential leak point. Even experienced roofers do not want to put additional holes in a roof. Metal roofs are particularly hazardous. The panels are not rated for the loads required to meet OSHA's standards. The clips and fasteners holding the panels are not inspectable and temporary standing seam anchors for metal roofs easily damage the roof and don't resist potential side loads.
Will the workers go without fall protection entirely or install and use a temporary anchor improperly?
Unfortunately, this is likely. Falls off roofs remain a leading cause of death and injury in the workplace. You can reduce the chances of a fall, injury or death on your property by installing suitable permanent anchor points in the proper locations.
Can "safe" workers do better work?
Yes.
Your building can be safely maintained and it's easy to plan for it.
Require permanent life-safety anchor points in all:
New construction projects.
Renovation projects.
Re-Roof projects.
At the beginning of maintenance projects.
Be proactive.
"Take care of difficult problems while they are still easy." Lao Tzu 604-531 BC