How to Walk a Metal Roof Safely

It’s easy to think that every type of roof can be treated the same. This simply isn’t the case. Your EPDM roof safety plan will not be a one-to-one transfer to a metal roof.

This may be common sense to you, and I hope that it is. However, too often safety plans are just copy pasted and employees are put at risk as a result. The truth of the matter is that there are a lot of similarities, but each type of roof has its own intrinsic hazards that should be addressed.  Metal roofs are no exception.

Let’s start with a recap of the things that are common to all roofs. 

Common Roof Safety Hazards

Falls to another level are a concern on any roof: flat, sloped, metal, membrane, etc. Roofs have edges and those edges are going to be greater than 4’ above a lower level.  The problem with roofs is that every single one of them is going to have a different configuration from the next. 

It is important that you, as the building owner, maintenance company, or construction contractor performing work on a roof take a moment to assess your risks and mitigate any fall hazards you have. 

Also as important is understanding that you may have different fall protection options available to you depending on what type of work you’re performing.  For example, workers “performing roofing work” can utilize warning lines and monitors (though fall prevention systems like guardrails will always be a safer option), while other workers may not be afforded that option. 

Make sure you understand the OSHA requirements that are applicable to your work.

Metal Roof Skylight Hazards

Skylights, too, are a common hazard across different roof types and metal roofs are no different. 

Something to keep in mind, though, is that while you could have raised and obvious skylights, you could alternatively have a panel in the metal roof. Without light shining through it, these skylights may be hard to distinguish from the roof itself. 

These translucent panels may also have gotten painted over during the course of the roof’s lifespan, making them invisible to the eye.  These skylights are not as strong as the roof and could present a greater fall hazard because of the increased likelihood of somebody accidentally stepping on the weaker panel. 

Install skylight screens to prevent this from happening. Also, train your employees to make sure they are walking where the panels are screwed to structural members (or clipped if they are standing seam roofs) to ensure that there is solid footing underneath. 

Metal Roof Tripping Hazards

While trip hazards are always something to be concerned with on roofs (whether from debris, bubbles in the membrane, damaged seams, or rooftop protrusions), metal roofs add an additional concern: ridges. 

The ridges could vary in height, width, and the distance between each, but they’ll almost always be present on a metal roof.  These are great at catching toes and/or turning ankles, depending on their size. These need to be accounted for, at least in heightened awareness. 

We haven’t even mentioned trip hazards associated with tools, fall protection lanyards, conduit, or other construction debris.

Workers need to be extremely cautious and keep up with their housekeeping. Rooftop walkways can be installed to remove the need to walk across these ridges. They can also be installed with guardrails to prevent access to roof edges and skylights.

Metal Roof Slipping Hazards

It's also important to note something that may seem pretty obvious but could be forgotten. Metal roofs can be more slippery than other materials.  Especially when wet, muddy, or oily, a metal roof can be extremely treacherous to walk on. 

Conditions should be monitored to ensure that the weather hasn’t made your roof even more hazardous than it began.   In addition, if an oily substance is spilled, it needs to be cleaned right away.  Most metal roofs are sloped, but this will not allow an oily substance to ooze down and off the roof. All that will do is give you a larger area of reduced traction as the spilled material makes its way down to the edge.

So, make sure that you clean up any debris or spills. Reduce access to the roof to emergencies in poor weather conditions, like rain and snow. Install walkways with grip surfaces to reduce the likelihood of a slip.

Metal Roof Safety Solutions

So, with all of these hazards to consider, how do you protect your employees? Simple.  First, do a hazard analysis.  Know what you’re working with.  Are there skylights?  Are they visible?  What are the trip and fall hazards? Where is fall protection needed and what type is the most useful for this roof? 

Second, train your employees.  Remember, all employees utilizing fall protection are required to be trained in it.  They need to know how to properly inspect, use, care for, and store their equipment.   They need to understand why it is important and how it could fail to protect them if used the wrong way. 

Then, once they understand fall protection, you need to ensure they understand the specific hazards of this project (and each individual project they work on).  This can be done as a toolbox talk or other brief training. 

Finally, provide them with the equipment they need to do their jobs safely.  A properly determined anchor point, fall arrest equipment in good working condition, rails, netting, safe access points, or whatever else you’ve determined is necessary during your hazard analysis.  You need to see this through to completion. 

Leaving out any one of these steps is setting your workers up for failure. In this case, that failure is likely to lead to injury or death.

Contact an expert to help you develop a safe work environment for those working on metal roofs.