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Roof Cleaning West Chester PA · Premium Member Roof Cleaning Institute of America

roof safety

Roof Cleaning Tallahassee · Guest

What's up Mike! Good to see you and glad to hear you had a busy season. When things slow down, give me a shout and talk some shop talk!

-- Edited by Roof Cleaning Tallahassee on Saturday 6th of October 2012 12:20:59 PM

Kleen Roof and Exterior Cleaning · Oct 6, 2012

The way OSHA changes the laws all the time, I am not sure about the harness while being on a ladder. It was not needed before. And every state is different also. I here now that starting next year in Michigan if working on a roof, a netting system will need to be installed, this may be for commercial roof work. Heard this from a company that installs metal roofs and siding.

SEE OUR WORK HERE!!! · Guest

The one thing I'm stuck on is if they're on a ladder (above 6 ft), technically do they still have to be attached with the harness to be OHSA compliant?

Mike - I just did a job for Alan A. Myers on his office building. His safety guy came out and explained that anything over 6' - ladder, roof, whatever, you need a harness. He said that was an OSHA rule. This company is huge on safety, so I'm guessing he is right.

Roof Cleaning West Chester PA · Premium Member Roof Cleaning Institute of America

Landis Roof Cleaning Eastern Pa 610-689-4475 wrote:
The one thing I'm stuck on is if they're on a ladder (above 6 ft), technically do they still have to be attached with the harness to be OHSA compliant?
Mike - I just did a job for Alan A. Myers on his office building. His safety guy came out and explained that anything over 6' - ladder, roof, whatever, you need a harness. He said that was an OSHA rule. This company is huge on safety, so I'm guessing he is right.

yeah unfortunately that's what I figured but hoped I was wrong ... not taking an chances

Roof Cleaning New Jersey · Oct 6, 2012

I see you dont have a rabbits foot as one of the voting options. Can I write it in or.......

al9226 · Premium Member Roof Cleaning Institute of America

Just a tip. I walked into a pawn shop to look at a pressure washer this summer. I noticed one of the shelves had what looked like harnesses on it. Sure enough, 3 or 4 of them.. I picked out the newest cleanest looking one for 20 dollars.

Oct 7, 2012

Mike don't count out the "cougar Paws" I have purchased two pairs for two different employees and they love them, they say a big big differance. They a lil preicey but the replacement pads aint to bad.

gutterdog · Oct 7, 2012

Roof Cleaning Long Island N.Y 516-763-4108 wrote:
Mike don't count out the "cougar Paws" I have purchased two pairs for two different employees and they love them, they say a big big differance. They a lil preicey but the replacement pads aint to bad.

I hired a dude because he had a pair of cougar paws! Those shoes work. Night and day!

Oct 7, 2012

you have to watch the pads, when they go they come flying off.......don't try to get xtra miles out of them...worth the 15 bucks

Guest

The six foot ladder thing intrigued me so I went digging a little, and I'm still confused and it's still not clear to me what the rule actually is. There are numerous discussions/arguments on other forums regarding this. Some say yes, some say no,.go figure,Ha,Ha... The debate is: A permanent/"fixed" ladder vs a portable ladder.

Jeff

Bruce Weber · Oct 7, 2012

Doesn't some poor bastard have to climb a ladder, then attach an anchor before securing to a harness? Same thing in reverse at the end of a job. How do you stay secured (in compliance) 100% of the time.

Roof Cleaning West Chester PA · Premium Member Roof Cleaning Institute of America

excellent point ... if we can find holes imagine what a lawyer can do ... definitely gonna pony up and go the extra mile to make sure we're compliant, cougar paws and OHSA safety training included

Roof Cleaning New Jersey · Oct 7, 2012

Pat where did you purchase your cougar paws?

Oct 7, 2012

I got them online I googled searched cougar paws and a couple joints came up. The first one I ordered from had the " old look " for like $125 the second pair I went with another joint online and got them for $140 the style or look is diff. but same shoe. The pads are like $15 bucks a pop If your busy roof cleaner I would count on two pair a month just because not worth pushing an extra roof or two for 15 bucks. Of course an easy walkable no need for them, I own the shoes keep them on the truck and they are free to use them. Don't want a guy thinking they are his and quitting and " walking " off with them. When they come off a roof with them give them a good rinse they are like a sponge full of S/H. the rinse also helps the pads last a lil longer.

Kleen Roof and Exterior Cleaning · Oct 7, 2012

As far as the person going up to attach and detach, that is called "first person up/last person down" They have that covered in the law

Bruce Weber · Oct 7, 2012

Kleen Roof and Exterior Cleaning wrote:
As far as the person going up to attach and detach, that is called "first person up/last person down" They have that covered in the law

Thanks- good to know. Be careful with "wet" cougar paws. They don't grip as well as dry ones.

hickeys45 · Premium Member Roof Cleaning Institute of America

we throw a line over the roof attached to a rope which we pull over the roof and attach to a rubble bag containing 3 x 25kg water drums. This is the equivalent to 75kg weight on the end of the rope. We do the same on the other side, one guy climbs up holding onto the rope, attaches his own line to the rings on the main rope and then attaches the other guys line.

I did a safety roof access course a couple of weeks ago and they use an eyebolt system to anchor the rope. Basically they insert an eyebolt in the concrete path around the house which is pressured tested to 600kg for 15 seconds. The rope is attached to these ( one at either side of the house). Then they used a petzl descender attached to a safety harness and using these you can climb up and down whilst attached to the rope. The big advantage to this system is it can be used to rescue the guy on the roof in an emergency from the ground. The major disadvantage is you are not free to walk around the roof whilst attached. I hope to incorporate the rescue side of things into our system.

Here in Ireland the roofs are quite steep and due to the amount of moss, lichen and fungus are quite slippery, so a rope system is a must. When cleaning a tile roof we usually pretreat with a biocide, come back after a couple of weeks and manually scrape off the dead moss etc before retreating. Although we treat slate roofs with the SH we haven't tried it as yet on the tile and to be honest I cant see the moss just falling off after being treated.

Apex Roof Cleaning · Guest

I use AC's roof anchor it is awesome! When I drop it down the vent, I know I won't fall off the roof. I don't think it is OSHA compliant, but it is a necessity. Also when dealing with SH and ropes, you will need a rope washer. These ropes suck up SH and rust the nuts off all the clips and D rings.

Dan

Roof Cleaning West Chester PA · Premium Member Roof Cleaning Institute of America

Apex Roof Cleaning wrote:
I use AC's roof anchor it is awesome! When I drop it down the vent, I know I won't fall off the roof. I don't think it is OSHA compliant, but it is a necessity. Also when dealing with SH and ropes, you will need a rope washer. These ropes suck up SH and rust the nuts off all the clips and D rings.

Dan

Yeah I'm going with AC's anchor and the cougar paws. 90% of the time I won't be walking the roof, in which case my employees will be doing it. I'm also picking up a 2nd 28ft ladder/stabilizer so that everything is set up so we don't have to wait to move them around. Between the 10ft, 16ft and 28ft (x2) we should be fairly efficient. If I can't reach the vent, I'll use a roof anchor and if the home owner has a problem with me installing one, I'll simply pass on the job. Not risking my safety for a second this season, it's priority #1 for me.

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