How safe is your roof?

Workers carrying out repairs, cleaning or maintenance to roofs and façades are being put at risk by building owners.

The building owners fail to carry out regular maintenance and testing of their fall protection systems, says Sheffield-based company Eurosafe. The company, which specialises in testing and inspection of fall protection systems, has found that many building owners and managers are not aware of their obligations that cable-based fall protection systems should be tested every 12 months, as should PPE associated with work at heights and Eyebolts on roofs. Furthermore, Abseil anchors should be tested every six months, as part of meeting Work at Height legislation, including BS 3N 365, BS EN 795 and BS EN 7883.

Eurosafe has the capability to carry out inspection of its own and other manufacturer’s systems. If fall protection systems are not being tested every 12 months, then workers could be put at risk. For property managers who operate a number of buildings, this can be difficult to monitor, but at Eurosafe, we take responsibility for ensuring that our client’s buildings are tested and inspected to ensure they are up to date. By taking care of a single building or a company’s complete portfolio, we can provide peace of mind and minimise risks to personnel and a business.

Eurosafe also advises that building owners and property manages check that the fall protection company they are currently working with carries out adequate tests on each anchor device. British and European standards state that the sample anchor device needs to be tested with forces applied in line with expected service.

John Boyle explains that some companies simply carry out a visual inspection of a roof’s fall protection systems, which is not sufficient to guarantee safety and does not meet the regulations. On behalf of customers we carry out an individual load testing on each element of the fall protection system, which provides them with a more accurate assessment of the safety of their systems and will identify if any maintenance or replacement work needs to be done.

Eurosafe has built its reputation by going beyond the ‘sample’ testing approach by physically testing every system to apply a specified load for a number of minutes to each end component for every system. This is part of providing total confidence to customers and a greater degree of safety for those working at heights. Following the inspection, Eurosafe produces a detailed report as to its inspector’s findings and provides up to date system certification.