Many rooftop maintenance tasks are best handled during the warmer summer months. However, being aware of both general OSHA roof safety and CCOHS regulations, as well as local rooftop fall protection guidelines, is a must when it comes to preventing falls and other injuries when maintenance workers are spending time on your roof this season.
To help your team identify and cover its needs, here are some of the most important things to know about what summer rooftop maintenance should look like to keep your roof in the best possible condition all year long, as well as potential safety hazards and the importance of utilizing quality modular guardrail systems to keep the team members maintaining your rooftop as safe as possible.
Using the warmer months (and possibly more clement weather) to keep your roof in good condition is wise because it can help you see any damage the space sustained in other seasons, which may have been hidden by ice or snow. While some resulting work may be repairs or maintenance on machinery your organization stores on the roof, the lack of obstructing weather can help your team better see—and complete—projects that will keep the area compliant with OSHA roof safety regulations.
Taking care of those safety compliance situations can help you minimize your teammates' risk of encountering hazards involving:
Rooftop machinery: Electrical devices, ventilation, and ductwork are some of the equipment workers may encounter on rooftops, but anything consisting of large, unusual shapes, wires, or rods running the length of the area can introduce potential fall hazards (e.g. a teammate tripping over a wire and losing her balance). Taking the time during the summer to install machine guarding solutions can create safer walkways for employees when they need to function in colder, wetter, or more slippery conditions later.
Leading edges: In the course of their work, employees may have to lean or reach out to access points of interest in their tasks. Those motions could make them lose their balance. Taking advantage of the milder summer weather to install modular guardrail systems at leading edges can reduce risk year-round (and ensure OSHA roof safety compliance) by creating safe distances between your workers and a hazardous leading edge.
While summer maintenance is important, however, the season presents its own unique risks, making proper rooftop fall protection measures even more vital to your facility's successful operation.
These can include:
Effects of heat on the roof: Summer heat can warp or crack the topmost materials of rooftop walking and working areas (although rain, snow, and hail take their toll year-round). That can cause potential tripping hazards for employees completing maintenance projects. Should that occur, properly installed modular guardrail systems could protect them by providing a support to hold onto, and by creating an extra barrier between them and any machinery nearby.
Effects of heat on the workers: When working outdoors in the summer months, workers have the potential to overheat and become fatigued, which could result in a loss of balance or coordination. If bulky machinery is nearby, the inherent risks in these situations multiply; however, proper guardrails and other machine guarding solutions may be able to keep risks from happening.
Your rooftop’s specific maintenance needs can vary based on its materials and your location’s climate, but several considerations can help increase its safety and functionality overall. While your team should continuously strengthen safety measures throughout the year, the following projects are easy to complete in the summer months:
Inspect high-traffic walking and working surfaces: On flat rooftops and rooftop surfaces holding machinery, it's important to monitor the condition of heavily used thoroughfares. Regularly inspecting these spaces can help reduce risks like warped, cracked, or weakened materials year-round. You can also increase rooftop fall protection with guardrails in heavily used walking areas to provide handholds during icy or rainy seasons, or gated machine guarding solutions to create a barrier between workers and ventilation or other equipment if necessary.
Consider surrounding hazards: While the immediate rooftop area will always be your primary concern, don't forget to look at the environment around your facility's roof to see what potential hazards could arise. Nearby trees or wiring are exposed to the elements as much as roofing surface materials are, for example, and could become damaged from exposure to rain, snow, or heavy winds. Objects like these that can fall or blow onto a roof could present fall hazards to workers performing maintenance. Use the better summer weather to head up to your roof and take stock of issues like these that might exist, completing tree trimming or other tasks as necessary. To help mitigate additional risk near leading edges, modular guardrail systems can provide a barrier that keeps works safely on the rooftop should an object hit them, trip them, or cause them to lose their balance.
While selecting and installing an appropriate OSHA-compliant fall protection system for your rooftop or other space is an important step in keeping it safe to navigate, regular maintenance can also go a long way toward reducing the likelihood of safety concerns associated with a worn out or otherwise damaged rooftop.
At BlueWater by Tractel, we prioritize providing the highest quality fall protection equipment available to make rooftops and other potentially hazardous areas safer for your regular employees, maintenance experts, and other visitors to your business. Our modular guardrail systems are one of the most reliable options for securing your rooftop to prevent falls and other injuries while handling a wide range of summertime and other seasonal maintenance needs.
Contact us to learn more and meet your rooftop fall protection needs today.
