Meeting Cal-OSHA Requirements with Skylight Screens

Skylight protection can be an oversight during bigger rooftop projects, but that is not to say that they are any less important when it comes to the need of fall protection. OSHA categorizes skylights in the same field as hatchways which means that they are a hole in the roof that a person may fall through. A skylight requires protection of at least a skylight screen which can withstand a load of at least 200 pounds.

This company based out of California had a large rooftop project to undertake which started out as a corporate policy to install fall protection across the board which included skylights and different types of roof edges that all needed fall protection. After reaching out to Simplified Safety, one of our fall protection specialists went to the facility to conduct an assessment and plan out what types of systems would be needed for this project.

These facilities had multiple different styles of skylights including flat and dome shaped. Along with different types of roofs such as corrugated metal and asphalt. And after some additional planning with our team, they decided on Simplified Safety for their project which included Skylight Screens, Rooftop Guardrail, and Kee Mark Warning Line.

As mentioned, OSHA requires a skylight screen to withstand at least 200 pounds. However, in California they have additional regulations through their state regulation aptly called “Cal-OSHA”. Cal-OSHA’s load requirements can increase based upon the anticipated load from an employee. This means that under Cal-OSHA, the screens need to be able to withstand 400 pounds. Our Cal-OSHA compliant skylight screen is a thicker stainless steel or galvanized carbon steel wire that meets all these requirements and was perfect for this job.