Rooftop Guardrail Installation Methods

John F Kennedy identified himself as a donut, Thomas Edison invented the first lightbulb, fortune cookies are a Chinese dessert, and cockroaches will survive a nuclear attack.

What do all 4 of these things have in common? They are all misconceptions. Misconceptions are a wrong or inaccurate ideas, and we all have them.

Today I want to focus on one misconception:  Pre-engineered systems require specialized labor.

While there are many pre-engineered systems, in this article we will focus on Kee Guard.

Kee Guard is a non-penetrating and components based railing system that is pre-engineered. Pre-engineered is the key to debunking this misconception.

What is important to you? That is where we start to help equip you with the best installation plan. Is it peace of mind? Using your own team? Or simply what installation is the safest?

Here we’ll discuss the 4 routes to installation that we offer:

Local Installation with Training & Support

First up is local installation with training and support. Local can mean one of two things: your team or your contractor. Simplified Safety understands that most people don’t have experience with installing Kee Guard and that it needs to be installed properly.

Fall protection is a serious matter with the goal of bringing workers home safe to their families at the end of the day. We give support through the installation process and virtually train your laborers.

Prior to workers getting on the roof, Simplified offers a free training session. The purpose of this is to connect your laborers with our experts and walk through the installation instructions. Our experts give tips on best practices and answer any questions you or the laborers have about installation.

This is a good option to save time and money because you are equipped with an expert, virtually who is trained to be reactive and work quickly to answer your questions.

To learn how to install your guardrail safely, read more here.

Local Installation with Certification

The next route to installation is local installation, with a certification. This process stays the same as the previous method, with the addition of once the install is complete, a Simplified Safety representative comes out to your jobsite to certify the installation.

For a more detailed look at the benefits of a certification, you can read more here.

In short, you guarantee OSHA compliance, manufacturer specs, and reduce liability. Once the certification is completed, a certification document will be issued to you with our name on it.

This gives you the freedom to use the installer of your choice and peace of mind that it was done right. Win, win.

Supervised Installation

The third option is to use your team but supervised by a fall protection installer. Simplified Safety sends out a supervisor who is a fall protection specialist and a veteran at installing Kee Guard.

This still gives you the freedom to use your installers but streamlines the process and helps get the installation completed quickly. Having the leadership on site will help your local crew learn by example which will help them be able to confidently go onto the next Kee Guard job.

Along with saving time, it will also give you peace of mind by having the system installed correctly and OSHA compliant.

Turnkey Installation

A full turnkey installation is the final option. Turnkey is the service of Kee Guard being installed complete and ready to use. The main draw to this option is the “hand-off” approach.

This process sends a team of fall protection installers who will completely do the work. Simplified Safety provides a project manager to handle the project from start to finish. The team on site will then train your users on the proper use, maintenance, and inspection of Kee Guard, followed by a certification document issued by Simplified Safety.

Being that the installers are safety professionals themselves who care deeply about fall protection. You will have peace of mind that the work at height will be done safely and in line with OSHA requirements.

Installation Methods

To sum up the four different installation methods, we've created this matrix to easily see what benefits come with each installation method.

Wrapping Up

Ultimately, we care about keeping your workers safe. The compliance and accuracy of the installation needs to be top of mind with any route you take.

Contact an expert today to help determine which route is best for you.