How to Stay Safe in Winter with Rooftop Guardrail

What sort of safety preparations does your company take to get ready for winter? In some cases, that might include restocking on winter salt, or checking that your generator is in working condition.

Have you ever considered that your rooftop might require preparation to be safe in the colder months? Ice, high winds, and snow all introduce unique risks for anybody working on a rooftop.

Falling off the edge of the roof because you don’t have a rooftop guardrail is only one hazard enhanced by winter conditions.

Winter Rooftop Hazards

Slips and Falls

I recently worked with a client located in upstate New York, who was concerned that their rubber coated, slightly pitched roof was a huge slipping hazard for their employees. In the words of my customer, their roof “became an ice rink in the winter.” Even worse– there was nothing around the roof perimeter to stop a fall, should one occur. They were rightly concerned about the possibility of someone losing their balance and sliding right off the edge of the roof.

Hearing this customer’s first-hand experiences opened my eyes to the danger that rooftop maintenance work can be in the winter. Their roof, which was fairly easy to navigate in the summer, became a life-threatening hazard when ice was added to the equation. No employee can effectively do their job when they are worried about losing their life in the process.

Sluggishness

Besides the possibility of falling that you might associate with ice and snow, there are less obvious risks you might not have considered. Have you ever been exposed to the cold for long periods of time, and noticed your reactions are much slower than usual?  The colder temperatures slow your nervous system, affecting the speed at which your muscles are able to move. If your rooftop is littered with hazards that require agility to navigate, you’re setting your team up for failure in the winter.

Visibility

Depending on where you live, winter may bring heavy snowfall, which can cause visibility issues.If the ground is covered in snow, then more than likely, so is your roof.

Roof edges are difficult to judge when everything is covered in blinding white snow. The visibility is reduced even more when snow is swirling in the air. If there’s not a physical barrier, like a guardrail, then a worker can accidentally walk off the edge of the roof.

Make sure that you take this into account when developing your safe working procedures.

Snow and Ice Rooftop Fall Prevention Methods

Eliminate the Hazard

OSHA’s hierarchy of controls recommends that the best way to address a hazard is elimination. When possible, this is always the best way to approach safety.

Can that conduit located in your employee’s walking path be rerouted? Can the hazardous material be removed from your work processes? For a rooftop, this would most simply involve preventing roof access, and doing all maintenance work from the ground.

Most of the time, this isn’t possible. In fact, winter elements might be your primary reason for accessing your rooftop.  To protect the integrity of the roof, you may need to shovel the snow and ice off the roof edge.

A cubic foot of snow can weigh between 15 to 50 pounds, depending on how wet and compact it is. These loads can threaten the integrity of your roof structure, if not removed quickly.

So, we get it. You probably have to access your roof in the winter. So how do you deal with all these hazards, while keeping yourself and your team safe?

Rooftop Guardrails for Winter 

I mentioned earlier a customer of mine who was faced with an unsafe rooftop, specifically in the winter. They needed a solution that, without fail, would create a barrier and stop a slip or fall off the roof.

We decided that a rooftop guardrail was the best way to accomplish this.

There were a couple of other requirements we needed to keep in mind while protecting their rooftop. This customer didn’t want to create penetrations in their roof, and risk leaks down the road. This meant a mounted guardrail was not preferable.

Another aspect of fall protection that was important was permanence - their maintenance team wanted something to solve the problem for years down the road.

Finally, they had a firm budget that couldn’t be exceeded in that fiscal year. I’m sure you can relate.

So, they needed a non-penetrating and permanent guardrail. Thankfully, we had the perfect solution: KeeGuard. All boxes checked.

The counterweights were lighter than most non-penetrating guardrails on the market. This meant that the weights wouldn’t compound with the weight from the snow, causing more structural strain on the roof. KeeGuard is also hot-dipped galvanized without welding so that it would last a long time, just like the maintenance team asked for.

Wrapping It Up

Winter introduces many dangerous, and potentially life-threatening hazards to your employee’s safety. A simple guardrail protecting the walking and working areas ensures your employees will make it home safely.

As your company begins planning for winter, make sure to consider your rooftop. Contact our fall protection experts to help evaluate the risks and come up with a gameplan.