How to Keep your Workers Safe when Working at Height on Roofs

In February, 2016 we saw the introduction of new sentencing guidelines for breaches of health and safety legislation here in the UK, a dramatic change to health and safety legislation designed to deter employers from ignoring legislation and neglecting their responsibilities towards their employees.  These new sentencing guidelines came into force because there was widespread concern that the penalties being imposed for health and safety offences were too low, particularly in cases of larger organisations with a multi-billion pound turnover.  It was often cheaper to pay the fines rather than take the necessary action to ensure compliance! 

It seems that this initiative has had the desired effect because recent research has discovered that health and safety fines handed out during 2016 far outstripped the cost of compliance.  The range of fines varied from £100 for a small construction company found guilty of health and safety breaches to the £5 million handed down to Merlin Entertainments when a breach of health and safety regulations resulted in a tragic accident at Alton Towers which injured 16 people , two of whom underwent leg amputations. 

With work at height remaining the biggest cause of death and serious injury in the workplace, it’s vital that employers and duty holders ensure that risks are reduced as much as possible and that workers are provided with the right sort of protection – both collective protection equipment and personal protection equipment.  One of the most dangerous places to carry out work at height is on rooftops – either falling through fragile roofs and skylights or falling from the edge of the roof.  There’s no doubt about it – working on a roof is a risky business and here at D-marc we’re committed to providing employers and duty holders with effective solutions to ensure the safety of their workforce.

The most effective method of ensuring safety when carrying out work on a roof is to take measures to prevent workers from getting near the edge or any fragile surfaces.  This is best accomplished by using a rooftop barrier demarcation system which is classed as a type of collective protection equipment.  Here at D-marc we’ve designed an effective rooftop demarcation barrier system that can be installed quickly and easily without any need for specialist training.  What’s more it’s suitable for all types of flat roof and can be installed on new roofs or retrofitted onto the roofs of existing buildings to ensure compliance with our stringent health and safety legislation and the effective enforcement processes we have in place here in the UK.

Our rooftop demarcation system is made up of just four components:

• A recycled rubber base that won’t damage the roof surface
• Uprights manufactured from 304 stainless steel in a trapezoidal construction finished with a bright orange powder coating to render them highly visible whatever the weather.
• Orange and black heavy duty polyethylene chain to connect the uprights and form the barrier.
• Split connector links to enable lengths of chain to be joined together for a totally tailored solution, whatever the size and shape of the area.

If you’re looking for a solution to keep your employees safe on rooftops, why not get in touch and see how we can help you comply with current health and safety legislation?