Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: trevor perry on June 12, 2009, 09:03:40 pm
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i currently do a contract that has a lot of flat roofs to work from these roofs are over pedestrian walkways ,in the past it has been alright to work from these providing the operative works more than 2 metres away from edge, now the health and safety are after me putting roof gaurds round all edges before carrying out the work i have told them the costs would be more than doing the job and could they not put wire lines on eyebolts to fasten to but they say for the amount they need and testing etc this too will be very expensive, what i am wondering is could a dead weight trolley be used to fasten too i have looked at other roof anchorage devices but the time involved in moving them would be silly.
has anyone else come accross this issue yet and how have you dealt with it.
please help this is something that is going to effect all who do commercial work and a cheap solution needs to be found.
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Have a word with a scaffold firm , they might have a good option for you.
Is it the hse or a jobs worth making you put the roof edge protection in place, normally a buddy system is sufficient for short duration work.
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What about getting the company to put anchor points in and then once your up there connect the anchor points up to a body harness that the operative wears. Just need to find a suitable length that means who ever is working on there won't go off the edge.
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Trevor,
you used to be able to get moveable/mobile scaffold guards. This would possibly be the best solution for your situation.
Google it & see whether they are still available.
;)
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thanks for the sugestions, it is the HSE that is insisting on this the eyebolts are a no go at moment as this has to be passed by HSE also ,so they are saying theres not enough time to sort out for this years clean i will look into the moveable scaffold idea but as said there is hundreds of metres of roofing so i wanted something that was quick as cost is obviousl an issue with them.
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Trevor Perry
have a look through these sites
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg284.pdf
http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/roof.htm
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Page 9 and 12 of the PDF would be quite relevent to you i think
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thanks dave, i had already read these, in the past it was possible to work so long as we stayed 2 metre away from edge but now a physical barrier has to be errrected as said there are 100s of metres of roof like this on the university campus as you know work like this is very price orientated and although we will be allowed to re qoute for this work i am almost sure they wont pay the costs involved, i have sourced some eyehooks that basically leave a thread in wall and can be moved from area to area so will discuss this with the safety officer but work will still have to take place on the roofs to fit these.
another idea i want to run pass him is the idea of a deadweight trolley with an eyehook for the operative to fasten too and a short lanyard then the operative can wheel the trollley along as he goes and it will act as a restraint for him going near the edge, i know this wont work as a fall arrest but it will restrain the operative.
once again thanks dave.
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Trevor
The way i see it from what you are telling me is that it is there problem, you can only approach it so many ways, and if those ways are not acceptable it is there responsibility to ensure a safe working environment.
I went on a safety course and was told you can use barrier tape if you are more than 2 m from the edge and it is short duration.
The only other way is a man safe system or anchor points.
Bottom line------ They need to fit a man safe system, I cant see it being your problem.
We work on some roofs and the big organisations always have some sort of safe system
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Trevor
The way i see it from what you are telling me is that it is there problem, you can only approach it so many ways, and if those ways are not acceptable it is there responsibility to ensure a safe working environment.
I went on a safety course and was told you can use barrier tape if you are more than 2 m from the edge and it is short duration.
The only other way is a man safe system or anchor points.
Bottom line------ They need to fit a man safe system, I cant see it being your problem.
We work on some roofs and the big organisations always have some sort of safe system
spot on that was the conclusion i had come to and if they wont accept the methods i suggest then they need to get a firm in to make access safe for us at their cost as it is not really our responsibility, at least by me going through the process of all the options it shows i am working along with them and not just passing the buck onto someone else.