Fall Protection
In the Roofing Industry
Training Objectives
• After completing this session you will:
– Have a better understanding of the potential
fall hazards you face.
– Be able to recognize a fall situation.
– Understand the means and methods available
to eliminate or protect you from the fall
hazard.
Fall Facts
The
leading cause of fatalities and a
leading cause of injuries in construction.
– 100,000 injured
– 150 - 200 deaths
– 35% of Construction Fatalities
– 84% of injured lose time from work
– 33% of injured are hospitalized
More workers fall to their deaths from,
or through, roofs than any other work
surface
When is fall protection required?
• Each employee on a
walking/working surface
with an unprotected side
or edge which is 6 feet
or more above a lower
level shall be protected
from falling.
6 feet or greater
Many different types of fall
protection
Low Slope vs. Steep Slope
Commercial Fall Protection Requirements
Low Slope (up to 4:12)
-
Guardrails
Warning Lines
Safety Monitors Alone (<50’ wide)
Warning Lines & Safety Monitors
Personal Fall Arrest Systems
Safety Nets
Steep Slope (> 4:12)
-
Guardrails
Personal Fall Arrest Systems
Safety Nets
4
12
Low sloped roofs rise four units or less for every run of 12 units
Guardrails
-
Guardrails are found
made of wood, cable, or
metal.
-
Some are constructed
onsite while others are
prefabricated.
REGARDLESS OF WHO ERECTED THE
GUARDRAIL, THE EMPLOYER WHO EXPOSES
EMPLOYEES MUST ENSURE IT IS COMPLIANT.
Guardrail Requirements
•
Top rail, mid-rail, and toeboard
•
Top rail shall be 42" (plus or minus 3 inches ie. 39” to 45”)
– Must withstand 200 pounds of force outward or downward
– Cable cannot sag more than 3” or below 39” with 200 pounds of
force applied.
•
Mid rail shall be ½ the distance between top rail and working/walking
surface
•
Toe board shall be at least 3 ½” high (2”x4”)
– Add screen or mesh if tools or materials extend above toeboards.
•
Wood guardrails (2”x4”) shall have vertical supports a maximum of eight (8)
feet apart
•
Pre-fabricated guardrails such as Garlock Safety Rails must comply with
manufacturer requirements.
Steep Slope Guardrails
When is a parapet wall acceptable
as fall protection?
Warning Line Systems

Barrier to warn workers approaching the edge.
– Defines area where roofing
work can be done without
conventional fall protection.
– Used only on low-sloped roofs.
– Consists of ropes, wires, or chains,
and stanchions erected around all
sides of the roof.
– High-visibility flags
not more than 6’ apart.
– Line is no more than 39”
and no less than 34”
from surface.
Used only
on
low-sloped
roofs.
Warning Line
 Barrier to warn workers approaching the edge.
Manual work:
place line >6’
from edge.
Mechanical work: place
line >6’ from edge
parallel to equipment
direction and >10’ from
edge perpendicular to
equipment direction.
Lines or railing to the ladder is
excellent however a line must
close the railing opening.
Warning lines must remain a
minimum of 6’ from the roof edge or
10’ if mechanical equipment is used.
Traffic cones do not have the
required ‘tipping strength’ of
16 pounds. Lines cannot sag
below 34”
Warning Lines
Lines must have a 500 pound breaking strength
Who is allowed outside the
warning lines?
• No employees shall be allowed in the area
between a roofs edge and a warning line
unless the employee is performing roof
work activities in that area, and is being
supervised by a Safety Monitor or wearing a
personal fall arrest system.
Safety Monitoring System
A
Competent Person to warn workers near edges.
– Cannot be used on;
–
–
Steep slope roofs
Roofs with mechanical equipment
in use
– Cannot be used ALONE on;
–
roofs >50’ wide
Competent Person must be:

- competent in recognizing fall
hazards
- capable of warning workers
operating on same surface
- close enough to communicate
What are the fall hazards I should be
warning employees about?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Backing up to close to the edge
Any unprotected roof opening
Tangled extension cords
Airborne debris
Bees, Wasps, Hornets
Water, ice, or other slippery
conditions
• Any change in walking/working
conditions
Should a Safety Monitor wear a vest?
Personal Fall Arrest System
“System” is made up of the
following components;
Full Body Harness
Most
body harnesses have these parts:
– Shoulder straps
– Shoulder strap retainer
– Dee-ring
– Waist strap
– Thigh straps
– Sub-pelvic support
– Adjustment buckles
Some designs may not have
waist straps or sub-pelvic
supports.
Lanyards
-
Many different types.
-
Shock absorber is the key
component in reducing the
forces imposed on the body.
-
How much material will the
shock absorber release?
-
Shock absorber side should be
attached to the rear D-ring
between the shoulder blades.
Snaphooks
•
Must be ‘double action & self
closing’
•
Never wrap lanyard around an
object and snap the hook back
onto the lanyard, unless the
lanyard is specifically designed
for this.
Anchorages
• Fall anchors must support at least 5,000 pounds of force.
Personal fall arrest must never be attached to guardrails.
Roof Anchors
Door Jam Anchor
Anchorage Connectors
“Mobile” Fall Protection Available
Horizontal Lifelines
• Horizontal lifelines shall be designed, installed, and used, under the
supervision of a qualified person (ie. Must be engineered)
NEVER install a horizontal lifeline unless it has been
designed by a qualified person!
Making a PFAS work
• Employees are not permitted to
free fall more than 6 feet.
• Maximum force that can be put
onto your body during a fall is
1800 pounds.
• Actual force depends on your weight
& fall distance.
• The shorter the fall the better.
The Six Foot Fall
200 lb. Worker falling 6 feet = 9,000+ lbs. of energy.
Always think,
“What will happen if I fall?”
Calculation of Total Fall
Distance
•
•
•
•
•
Freefall = 6 feet maximum
Deceleration Distance = 3.5 feet max.
Harness effect = 1 foot
Lifeline elongation = 2 feet maximum
Portion of body landing below attachment point
approximately 5 feet
• Total clearance below required to avoid
contacting lower level may be 17.5 feet or more!
Self Retracting Lifelines
•
Lock up during fall
giving only 2’ of
material.
•
Must be attached
directly to rear D-ring.
Shock absorber may
cause ratchet effect or
prevent lock up.
•
Use per manufacturer
instructions. While
some may be used
horizontally, some
cannot.
Holes and Skylignts
• Protect from:
– falling through, tripping or stepping into, and objects falling through.
Skylight Protection
Raptor Skynet System
-
Warning lines, and
safety monitors are
NOT acceptable fall
protection around
skylights, and roof
openings.
-
Guardrails, hole
covers, netting, or
PFAS must be used.
Covers
• Withstand twice expected load
• Secured
• Marked with ‘HOLE’ or ‘COVER’
Suspension Trauma and Fall Rescue
• ‘Suspension Trauma’
– The medical effects of immobilisation in a
vertical position
• The effects are nothing new
– Crucifixion is death from suspension trauma
• It presents an immediate threat of death to
anyone immobilised in a vertical position
• The onset and progress of ST are rapid and
unpredictable
• All those ‘working at height’ must be trained
in how to recognise, manage and prevent
suspension trauma
Effects the “Immobile”
• Suspension trauma can only affect
someone who is immobile –
specifically not using their leg
muscles to any great extent
• It does not normally affect people
who wear a harness but who are:– Actively moving about (climbing,
caving, etc)
– Suspended for only a minute or two
(parachutists)
• The danger is when someone is
unable to move!
Human Biology
•
As we stand upright we have a problem
– Gravity pulls your blood into your legs
– Your heart is a positive-pressure pump – it cannot suck!
– The only way to get the blood back out of the legs is to pump it using
another method.
•
The veins in your legs are entwined within the skeletal muscles, and when
you move your legs, these muscles squeeze the veins, pushing the blood out
of the way.
•
We have one-way valves in these veins, so each squeeze can pump the blood
a short distance towards the heart.
•
Providing you are walking around, this process makes a ‘heart in each leg’ –
and it’s very effective!
But what if we’re not pumping?
•
If the muscles are not pumping the blood upwards, it pools
in your legs
– General feelings of unease
– Dizzy, sweaty and other signs of shock
– Increased pulse and breathing rates
– You can ‘lose’ several pints and go into shock
•
Your brain tries ‘shock’ for a while, but of course it
doesn’t help – blood is still stuck in your legs.
•
After a few minutes, the brain goes for the last-ditch
method
– “If I faint, I fall over. I get the blood back”
•
Your Brain assumes you must fall over. If you stay
upright:– Your brain has no oxygen supply
– Your airway is at risk
– You will probably die within 10 minutes after
fainting
How long have you got?
• Uninjured volunteers felt dizzy in as little as 3 minutes
– Typically 5 to 20 minutes
• Loss of consciousness in as little as 5 minutes
– Typically 10 to 30 minutes
It is difficult to put a timeline on deaths, however from research
it is clear that death can result in as little as 10 minutes, more
typically between 15 and 40 minutes post-suspension. Death is
more rapid with existing injuries but can happen to anyone.
Anyone immobilised in an upright posture
is in immediate danger of death
OK, so we rescue them!
• Not so fast! There’s something important to deal with:• The blood that is trapped in the legs may not be in very
good condition, and may even kill the person if we let it
all pour back into their brain!
• This is called the ‘reflow syndrome’ and is medically
very complicated – you will not be able to control it
once it starts, and the patient will die. Luckily you can
prevent it from happening if you handle them with care!
Reflow Syndrome
• Pooled blood in the legs is ‘stale’ after 10-20 mins
– Drained of oxygen, saturated with CO2
– Loaded with toxic wastes (from the fat burning process)
• Re-elevating the legs returns this to the rest of the body in a
massive flood
– Heart can be stopped
– Internal organs (especially the kidneys) can be damaged
• You have to stop this flood of stale blood – but still keep enough
tricking to the brain to keep the person alive!
Anyone released from immobile suspension should be
kept in a sitting position for at least 30 minutes
Preventing suspension trauma
• If you fall accidentally and are suspended:
– AVOID using your legs. You don’t want blood sent there.
– Lift your knees into a sitting position. All you need is to get
your knees level or higher than your hips – the position you’d be
in if you were sitting on a chair
– Relax as much as possible. Panic makes things worse
– If you can, get your feet to rest against a structure such as the
side of the building
• If you’re trapped and cannot move
– Strain your leg muscles as hard as you can every 5 seconds
– Breathe slowly and deeply
– You’re most urgently needing rescue!
THIS INFORMATION
COULD SAVE YOUR
LIFE!!
Hitting the ground
• Lowering systems must be controlled to
prevent the patient’s body being laid flat
as it reaches the ground
– Keep them sitting up for 30 minutes
• Normal first-response and paramedic
rules are WRONG
– This is not ‘fainting’ !
– You need to stop ‘professionals’
doing the wrong thing and laying
your patient flat on a trolley or
hospital bed
Summary
• Fall Protection is required at six feet.
– Guardrails, PFAS, Warning Lines, Safety Monitor
• The type of fall protection used will depend on steep
slope vs. low slope and other factors.
• Holes & Skylights MUST be protected.
• Prompt rescue MUST be provided. A worker suspended
in harness is in immediate danger to life and have 15-30
minutes to live.
• After rescue, workers should NOT lie down. Instead they
should be in a seated position for 30 minutes.
Questions?