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Posted By Brian
I am looking for some advice We have to fix a guardrail system to a flat roof (7 floors Up) and have ruled out the erection of a temporary guard rail system to protect our workers whilst they carry out the task so our preffered way is to use safety harnesses however there are currently no anchor points to secure to. So my question is this what are the best anchors to use and what is the best way to fix these to the roof?(by the way the roof is concrete)and how would we test them to ensure they are suitable for the job
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Posted By Gff
Before you go off spending loads'amoney. What is on the roof already set the scene as it where! also where are you, I know some great companies who could help with equipment and training
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Posted By Robert K Lewis
As Gff says - why the sudden need to do this? If you are not putting equipment up there that requires regular visits I cannot see why you need to do it.
If however the need is definitive I cannot see why some of the many excellent systems produced by such as SGB and others are not being used both for temporary and permanent works. You will have difficulty justifying their no-use in any risk assessment. The fact that many choose harnesses in this situation is for me know excuse.
Bob
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Posted By Brian
Gff
There is a small parapet there already, we have been asked to put up a permanant barrier inside this parapet as there is an air con unit being fitted to this roof and it will obviously need maintaining, the reason for us ruling out a temp guardrail system while we carry out our work is really down to the inherent dangers of fitting the temporary guardrail in the first place (ie working close to the edge) whoever was to fit that (eg scaffold company) would require their men to be secured (safety harnesses etc) so we would in effect be doing the same job twice
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Posted By Peter MacDonald
To answer your question, I think what you may find useful is a temporary suitable anchor point. The easiest way of doing this without fixing anything into the roof (and therefore damaging it) is to hire or buy the concrete or steel anchor points you can find in most hire company brochures. They are designed to be used with a restraining harness allowing a worker a large radius of movement while preventing access to a leading or open edge. Although this may not be practicable if you have too many men you can space them out to allow overlapping of work areas without the men/women becoming tangled. Please note that they are really to be used with a restraining lanyard or inertia system rather than shock absorbing fall arrest systems. The mitigation in this case is the prevention of access to the open edge and therefore exposure to a fall.
The system comes in several interlocking pieces that can be manhandled to the location required and assembled in-situ. The location, length and type of lanyard etc will need to be recorded in asketch to be placed in a Safe system of work or Method and controlled by a roof permit.
Hope this helps
Pete
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Posted By Gff
where are you placing the condesor that required you to have the edge protection, can you have your plant near the center of the roof.
Also there are systems that clamp onto parapets avaliable for hire and purchase they are reasonably priced. You can work on a roof without edge protection as long as you dont need to work within say 2m from the edge
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Posted By holyterror72
That seems a bit like fuzzy logic.
Have you looked into the free standing edge protection which can be installed permanently?
Its difficult to get away from the dangers of work at height installing anything initially but you have to think of the residual risk after the installation as well.
The long term costs of anchor points, harnesses etc, could possibly out weigh any initial 'higher' costs of forming a sufficiently formed working platform.
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Posted By Gff
pete thats fine but there may already be steelwork, or other structures on the roof that can be used.
Bob I don't agree with you, it is not alway practical to install these systems.
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Posted By Gff
Holyterror
Yes it is fuzzy, but they this is a discussion forum, there is more to it that two lines in a post. With out confusing the issue I am trying to get more information to give a list of possibilities.
Whats the point in prescribing solutions if you don't know what problem the solution is for!
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Posted By holyterror72
Gff,
Quite right, fair enough, I should have read it more closely!
In my (partial defense) it is difficult to offer solutions without knowing the project being discussed. As you yourself have said there may be obstructions on the roof which may have to be considered. Which in turn would prevent the unit being placed centrally. It may also be difficult to remove the plant from the roof if it was located centrally. It may only be possible to locate it on one edge as a crane may only have access to one side due to adjacent units, weight, etc. If going down the 'can it be relocated' avenue can it be located at ground level? Who knows!
Sounds obvious but have you tried applying the hierarchy set out in the Work at Height Regs to the scenario and looking what you can get on the market to suit generally? I have been involved in projects where access platforms have been constructed over other services(where general access is at first difficult), etc to give permanent access which have worked pretty well as a retro fit means of safe access.
As already mentioned by Peter the temporary anchors appear to be quite good (I think the one I last dealt with was called something like 'Manchor' or similar. I would always go for permanent edge protection if possible though. Free standing versions are available on the market.
I still think you should look at the long term costs involved with each option though.
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Posted By Richard Hinckley
Just a few pointers on the safe use of "Deadweight" Anchor Devices.
These can be very practical in their use though it must be remembered that you can only anchor ONE person to each anchor point, if you have numerous operatives up on the roof consideration needs to be given to the additional loading put on the flat roof (each unit is a minimum 250kg each).
These systems can be linked up using a proprietary temporary horizontal safety line to provide a RESTRAINT system with additional weights added at the end anchors.
As previously mentioned the free standing handrail provides a passive protective system which succesfully provides collective protection (without any roof penetration).
Over the years we have installed a large amount of this which is designed to be semi-permanent, if aesthetics are an issue we have handrail that is collapsible when not in use.
Hope the above helps....
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