My company have recently acquired a company who maintain roof alarms on churches to protect the lead from theft. In some cases these detectors have been placed so that the technician has been using a ladder to climb onto a roof, walk up the slope and along the lead roof to get to the detector to change the batteries and trigger the motion sensor. I've attached an example of a church on contract and highlighted the detectors in red to explain what I mean.  

So far the team have considered various fall prevention and edge protection solutions but none seem like a perfect solution so im reaching out to see if anyone has experienced anything similar or has an idea we havent considered yet. 

Mewp / pav

• Ground conditions may be soft & unstable ground especially in graveyard areas
• Narrow gates and paths to access the church work position
• MEWP could work where there’s a path around the church and the mewp can reach the detector – don’t want Technicians getting out of the basket

Mobile scaffold tower

• Ground conditions may be soft & unstable ground especially in graveyard areas – could use boarding/ packing to increase stability
• Out-riggers required when height is 2-3 times the min base width or >4m, these might be on unstable ground
• Could use tower as access and edge protection to relocate the detectors (risk vs cost)

Anchor bolt with harness and lanyard

• Drilling into building – damage to building façade, would need Faculty approval for installation – insurers think approval would be granted on grounds of h&s but there’s a raft of paperwork to do for approval
• Insurers report 2011/12 lead theft was costing ~£1m per month in claims so roof alarms were given a waiver to install without a permit due to the cost saving
• If we’re allowed to drill to fit the detector into position to protect their asset, can we do the same to protect our asset?!
• Anchor point security
  • for permanent bolts installation would need to be by a specialist and then ‘pull tested’ every 6 (?) months (add cost to service visit) – ok for planned PPM but no good for ECO
  • for temporary bolts installation would need to be by competent person 
• Need further investigations 

Edge protection (barriers)

• Counter-weight ~22kg – how do we get that into position? Cant carry up the ladder and with systems with lower counter-weights there would be more trips up and down the ladder to install the system

Weighted anchor points

• As above ~16kg counter weights that need to be moved into position
• Max roof pitch ~50

Crash bags

• Not recommended for fall heights >2.6/2.8m
• Wouldn’t be able to secure the bags together around gravestones

Drones

• Eliminates need to get onto roof as often, currently changing batteries every 12months, could this be extended and use a drone at some visits.
• Would need to make sure date batteries changed is available for the next tech to know without having to go to the detector – write on the inside of the panel?
• Doesn’t help at call outs or when batteries need replacing
• Drone licence and training required

Relocate detectors

• Still need to get to them in the first place but then safer going forward
• Need to be in tamper-proof locations 

• Can get clamps to add to existing ladders to avoid the need for extra ladders on the van
• Training requirements for install and use
• If buy specific roof ladders needs to be to BS8634

Thanks in advance for any help

Have you thought about Hard Wiring.

During the repair process, I already spent too much money on various maintenance systems, including an alarm system. And I still need to buy various building materials. Is there anything on the budget?

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