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Roof Cleaning SAFETY Suggestions and Tips for Health and Longevity by VETERAN Roof Cleaners

Many Roof Cleaners, new to the trade, have yet to experience the horror of being 30-40 feet off the ground at the peak of a shingle or tile roof, BLINDED by a face full of roof cleaning chemical and nowhere to go but DOWN.

Sound frightening? Well, it WAS and that is exactly what I was up against on a sunny afternoon in South Fla. many years ago.

This situation has since never happened again, well, not exactly anyway, (thank God) in years since due to putting in place safety procedures and methods to protect myself and those working with me.

The situation occurred when a worm drive clamp came loose at the end of a hose barb at the UDOR spray gun end and blew my safety glasses completely off my head and doused me in the face and upper body with a full dose of tile roof mix.

Unfortunately, my helper was watering around the back and had his back turned to me as it occurred and never saw what happened.

As I stood there, FROZEN in FEAR, crying out in pain from the solution being FORCED into my eyes, nose and mouth, by the pressure built up in the hose, I realized that , if I survived this experience I needed to put some SERIOUS thought into not having this EVER happen to myself or anyone else again if I could help it.

I did survive this traumatic situation and proceeded to put in place a written safety plan designed for the way I roll up to a  job and roll out to get ready to perform our tasks, and how we roll up at the end of the cleaning process.

Here are some of the steps I put into place and that you can implement to help protect yourself and your crew so you can have a safe, profitable and healthy career in the non pressure soft washing or roofs, both tile and asphalt shingle.

Situations like the one described above, do happen, and not just to OTHER people and is why the recommendations I outline in this roof cleaning article should be taken seriously.

Here are my SAFETY recommendations based on years of trial and error in the field. "Remember, Failure to PLAN is, PLANNING to FAIL"

1. Every PROFESSIONAL roof cleaner needs to have a SAFETY PLAN in place, and easily accessible by all personnel within your company in case of accidental SPILLS
or accidental injury on the job.

2. I feel a NIOSH organic vapor approved mask is a MUST for all roof cleaners.

3. I encourage everyone to wear OSHA approved side blinder type eye protection at ALL times, in ADDITION to a FACE shield

4. I personally recommend using a full face SHIELD like those found on Harbor Freight and else where which are a reasonable price and can avoid over spray getting in your eyes.

5. Forearm length, Chemical Gloves and Chemical resistant boots should be worn whenever possible.

6. A fully stocked FIRST AID KIT with an eye flush KIT is MANDATORY, in my opinion.

Important Additional Info: We have a system in place I engineered on our trailer that allows CLEAR water to be sprayed at eye level with variable pressure that is fully operational on EVERY job so we can address chemical EYE contact issues immediately.

I strongly encourage everyone that is serious about safety to consider this advice and implement these ideas into daily practice when cleaning roofs using non pressure roof cleaning equipment, hoses, nozzles, and pumps.

These are just some of the recommendations I live by in my roof cleaning operation.

I urge everyone to make a written list of roll out and roll up daily procedures and make a list of possible accident scenarios and then, answer the question:
How you would deal with EACH individual situation, should it occur?

Once a well thought out, written plan is in place you will be able to provide
better training to helpers and lead persons and have a specific plan of ACTION
should disaster or accident occur.

I hope this information helps you all in your quest to be safe and prepared while spraying roofs.


-- Edited by Roof Clean USA Georgia 229-227-0000 on Monday 23rd of November 2009 10:37:56 AM