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Safe System of Work for Installing Roof Trusses
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Posted By Homer
Can anyone help me with providing an HSE acceptable SSoW for installing roof trusses, trust me it's not as easy as it sounds.
Many thanks
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Posted By Charley Farley-Trelawney
Homer
Once delivered to site can not mechanical assistance be employed to take the strain and a simple scaffold platform be erected on the inside to ensure safe handling and final fix of said trusses?
I imagine you cross brace as you work along thus ensuring they are safe. Perhaps I am incorrect but I would have perceived that the worst part would be the raise from ground and initial location; fortunately they are a fairly weak structure until they are fixed in situ and as a consequence do not weigh a great deal (as single units at any rate)
To be fair to you, I am thinking mainly of a domestic setting, with a pitch/hip roof at higher levels these would surely be hoisted and again fixed in place by suitably barriered operatives .
Would you be kind enough to give an indication where you see the main problems occurring?
Al the best
CFT
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Posted By LIM BOON KHOON
Dear Homer,
Ask the contractor to prepare a Method Statement and do a Job Safety Analysis (JSA) from which you develop a Safe System of Work or Safe Work Procedure and not forgetting the risk assessment.
This should be a team effort amongst the parties concerned.
Hope this is helpful to you.
Best Regards
Lim Boon Khoon
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Posted By LIM BOON KHOON
Dear Homer,
Sorry I have inadvertently left out this in my earlier thread.
I have applied this method to different types of roof such as dome-shaped, flatted roof and pitch roof with different angles for high rise industrial, commercial, residential buildings and factories.
Best Regards
Lim Boon Khoon
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Posted By Granville Jenkins
A question for you Homer: Do you work for the Client or the Contractor?
If you work for the client you should not be providing the risk assessments and/or safe system of work (method statement)as you will be holding yourself out to be the competent person and in the event of an accident you could find yourself in hot water (in court.
It is for the Contractor to provide the risk assessments and method statements, and if you are the person appointed by the client to be responsible for health and safety it will be your responsibility to either accept or reject the documentation provided by the Contractor. You can always ask the Contractor the question 'have you considered ...' and ask the Contractor to provide additional/revised risk assessments/method statements but you should never instruct the Contractor on how to do the work.
One important element with the task at hand will be 'working at height' and how you protect operatives working on the trusses, one common method is to use large inflatable bags to cover the floor area immediately below the working area any additional measures would need to be considered in relation to the specific nature of the project e.g. could fall restraint lifeline system be integrated into the safe system of work - I do not recommend fall arrest as it can take a fall distance of around 7metres before the system kicks-in by which time (if its a domestic 2 storey building) the person will have hit the floor.
Regards
Granville
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Posted By peter squires
Dear Homer,
This SSW should be done by the contractor and site manager with reference to their method statements/risk assessments for the particular job in question. They would be the competent people to who know what operations and risks are involved.
There are so many types of roof trusses, different weights, sizes, and also materials on site these days.
ie. `attic trusses'(very heavy) usually require power access equipment to lift them into position. Therefore, ground conditions, working at height on properly guarded working platforms , and also risks to other site operatives need to taken into consideration.
How they are to be fixed? PPE required etc.
I think it would be difficult to find a general SSW for all roof trusses. I have experience of this type of work and it varies from site to site.
My advice would be to seek the co-operation of the parties involved, and advise further assessment if you think they are trying to cut corners to get the work done.
Peter
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Posted By Nadine Hodgson
Most contractors use mobile cranes to lift trusses in to place, with operatives positioned on external scaffolding to secure them. Some do forget internal protection, which can be provided by additional scaffolding internally. Unfortunately this will not provide protection for any high level bracing / fixing. For this you could utilise a truss protection system, there are systems on the market that fit within the truss that provide a safe working platform. I only know of one provider and that is Oxford Safety Components. Hope this information helps.
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Posted By Ron Hunter
From a WAHR perspective, no doubt the HSE would prefer to see the roof being assembled on the ground. Can you do this? (SFARP)
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Posted By AlB
Homer,
As stated above, there are numerous ways to install the trusses.
I would obviously highly recommend that manually lifting trusses onto a work platform and then into place. I'm sure the HSE would have a word or two to say if they saw that taking place.
Another option is to use the site's telescopic forklift with an appropriately tested and inspected truss jib. However, this system has its serious flaws in that the ground conditions need to be right (flat, solid etc) and the positioning of the forklift needs to be spot on. Control of the load is limited, and an appointed person would need to be allocated, as per LOLER. Not recommended for anything other than one or, under tightly controlled conditions, two floor properties.
The third, and the safest, would be a mobile crane. Remember that this option would also be the most costly unless you have a number of properties that require roof trusses to be lifted.
Bean bags, safety nets, fall restraint systems etc are the most commonly used methods to protect the people involved.
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Safe System of Work for Installing Roof Trusses
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