Osha Regulations Roof Construction

Reducing falls during residential construction.

Osha regulations roof construction. Fall protection in construction osha publication 3146 2015. Roof tarping blue roof safety fact sheet osha publication 3926 2017. Osha requires fall protection for workers on surfaces over six feet off the ground that do not have protection along the surface edges. Since roofs rarely have any sort of built in protective rails employers must provide fall protection for roof workers.

However under the new rule if the distance is less than 6 feet from the roof edge conventional fall protection systems are required. Osha 1910 29 b contains system requirements that employers must follow to ensure guardrail systems will protect workers from falling to lower levels. Protecting roofing workers osha 3755 2015 english. Osha safety standards especially for roof fall protection can be a source of confusion for many industrial companies.

Lay headers sheets of roofing or other materials no closer than 5 feet inside the edges of the roof and parallel to the roofline. Osha standards frequently cited during fy 2013 inspections of roofing contractors naics 238160 rank by number of citations issued categories standard 1 duty to have fall protection 1926 501 2 ladder safety 1926 1053 3 fall protection training requirements 1926 503 4 eye and face protection 1926 102 5 general scaffold requirements 1926 451 6 general safety and health provisions 1926 20. Two osha standards can apply 29 cfr 1910 which governs general industry safety standards and 29 cfr 1926 which governs construction sites specifically. When the fall protection measures listed above are not used mark the edges of the flat roof with headers and warning lines to notify workers of potential fall hazard areas using the following guidelines.

Except as otherwise provided in paragraph b of this section each employee engaged in roofing activities on low slope roofs with unprotected sides and edges 6 feet 1 8 m or more above lower levels shall be protected from falling by guardrail systems safety net systems personal fall arrest systems or a combination of warning line system and guardrail system warning line system and safety net system or warning line system and personal fall arrest system or warning line system and. Re roofing fact sheet osha fs 3503 2012 english. This includes guardrail systems personal fall arrest systems and safety nets. 1910 29 b 1 the top edge height of top rails or equivalent guardrail system members are 42 inches 107 cm plus or minus 3 inches 8 cm above the walking working surface.