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Your company has put a lot of time and resources into developing its products, services, and image. In many industries, consistent brand identity is vital to your success. That's why everything associated with your company is emblazoned with your corporate name, logo, and colors including your corporate offices, manufacturing facilities, and warehouses. While you have the creative freedom to express your company's style in the appearance of your buildings, those buildings still have to meet OSHA guidelines for roof fall protection. An ugly industrial guardrail on the roof can detract from your carefully crafted brand. Luckily, roof fall protection doesn't have to be ugly to protect workers. In fact, rooftop guardrails can be designed to virtually disappear or complement the structure.
The roof of your industrial building most likely houses your HVAC equipment, as well as specialty equipment like filtration systems, chillers, solar panels, a green space, or security and surveillance equipment. The roof and the equipment on it must be maintained and occasionally repaired to keep everything functioning properly. That means workers have to climb onto the roof and work close to the leading edge or other fall hazards. Per OSHA 1910.28, your job is to protect them as they work:
When workers are performing duties less than 6 feet (1.6 m) from the roof edge, each employee must be protected from falling by a guardrail system, safety net system, travel restraint system, or personal fall arrest system.
If workers are at least 6 feet (1.6 m) but less than 15 feet (4.6 m) from the roof edge, a guardrail system, safety net system, travel restraint system, or personal fall arrest system must be employed to protect workers.
At distances of 15 feet (4.6 m) or more from the roof edge, you must incorporate a guardrail system, safety net system, travel restraint system, or personal fall arrest system or create a designated area in which workers perform their duties.
In addition to the leading edge, your roof holds other potential fall hazards that must be addressed including roof hatches and other openings, fixed ladder entrances, skylights, around rooftop equipment, and uneven surfaces. While people are working on the roof their materials, tools, and supplies can also become a fall hazard.
With all the potential fall hazards on your rooftop, it's vital that you take action to protect anyone who has to go up there. The most common fall protection for industrial rooftops is an industrial guardrail. Whether you go with a traditional safety rail or a non penetrating roof railing, your guardrails must meet the guidelines in OSHA 1910.29(b) to be compliant. However, sacrificing your brand image isn't an option and you certainly don't want an ugly, bright yellow industrial guardrail on your roof. While it may seem as though your options are limited to a regular industrial guardrail system, you do have choices:
With an architectural guardrail system that curves along the roofline, your image is fully maintained. As with all guardrails, a low-profile architectural railing provides passive fall protection at the leading edge and around skylights, roof access hatches, and around equipment. Unlike standard safety railings, however, architectural railings enhance the building's appearance, instead of detracting from it. In fact, they're nearly invisible on your roof line when viewed from ground level.
The type of guardrail system you use to protect rooftop workers depends solely upon your roof. For rooftops with unique architecture or a distinctive roofline shape, modular handrail systems are a good choice. These non penetrating roof railing systems are fast to deploy and don't require any special tools or equipment. Best of all, they can be configured in any shape to provide complete roof fall protection.
You can't avoid installing fall protection on your rooftop, it's just not an option. But you also don't have to settle for anything that doesn't compliment your brand aesthetic. Instead of hiding your rooftop guardrails, you may want to consider modular handrail systems in a custom finish and color that looks great on your building and further promotes your carefully crafted brand image.
Choosing the right guardrails to protect your rooftop is vital to the safety of your employees, maintenance workers, and contractors who must work on the roof. Installing a guardrail (or any building feature) that fails to support your brand image, identity, and style is far from ideal. But, it's also imperative that you follow OSHA regulations for fall protection, which can be hard to accomplish with non-custom railings. Maintaining a safe roof doesn't have to be a question of form or function. Both can be accomplished with custom an architectural, non penetrating roof railing, or modular handrails from BlueWater.
Sometimes an out of the box fall protection solution just won't fit your company's needs. Whether you're looking for a modular guardrail system to fit in unusual spaces, a curved safety rail to hide from street view, or a custom color to match your brand's standards contact us today to discuss your building specs with one of our qualified safety experts. We'll be happy to answer any questions you have to help determine what fall protection systems are best suited for your unique application. Our experts can also help you design and implement a roof fall protection system that not only provides fall protection that meets or exceeds tough OSHA standards, but also looks good doing it.
