Edging safety forward
August 1st 2006 Effective roof edge protection is a priority for those working at height on flat roofs. John Thelwell of Kee Klamp outlines the importance for health and safety professionals of the correct choice of system
People employed to carry out building work or routine inspection and maintenance of rooftop plant, lighting systems, gutters or to repair damage to the fabric of commercial and public buildings have a potentially dangerous job. They are at the mercy of the elements, frequently working in wet, cold and windy conditions. Also, because of the nature of their work, they are at risk from any number of slip and trip hazards posed by wet areas, cables, building materials and so on. These can be the cause of potentially fatal accidents.
Guidance from the Health and Safety Executive and European Standards (EN 14122 Part 3) is key to achieving an awareness of the safety issues in working at height. These guidelines make specific reference to the installation of edge protection systems on flat roofs. In short, where building and maintenance work frequently takes place at high level or on rooftops, then the correct installation of effective edge protection systems can successfully prevent dangerous falls from height.
Collective or personal?
The most common safety protection systems available on the market can be broken down into two groups: collective and personal. Collective roof edge protection systems generally offer protection to everybody accessing or working on a given roof at the same time. These typically include permanent fixed solutions or free-standing systems. Personal protection systems will offer protection only to the individual attached to the safety point on the roof area. Kee Klamp offers cost effective solutions in both categories. The KeeGuard system offers secure collective protection, while the Kee Anchor system is a personal man-anchor system.
When electing a collective roof edge protection system for a free-standing flat roof application, key criteria should be borne in mind. Assuming the chosen system fulfils legislative requirements and system performance, then other key areas to think about are installation simplicity and the aesthetics of the job a factor sometimes overlooked, but one where attention will pay dividends with the customer. Installation simplicity equals speed, saving time and money for the contracting team without comprising the safety and effectiveness of the system. The latest modular roof edge protection systems on the market offer quick and easy assembly as standard.
Mindful of the need for ease and speed of installation on site, Kee Klamp has developed a new rail fitting as an integral, standard component of the KeeGuard system. The new fitting allows the KeeGuard system's horizontal guardrail to be placed in the saddle of the open fitting, rather than through it before being secured with a grub screw in the normal fashion. This makes system assembly up to twice as fast as conventional roof edge protection systems and reduces on-site installation complexity and cost. With this new fitting, the KeeGuard system remains compliant with European Standard EN 14122 for permanent barriers and provides 'collective' rather than 'personal' protection.
Meeting the standard
To ensure compliance with this standard, all collective free-standing systems have to be tested to the following requirements: 'Testing of stanchions and handrails shall be carried out to ensure that under the given horizontal load (f), the system shall not deflect more than 30mm and show no perceivable signs of permanent deformation after the test load (f) is removed. The test load 'f' is derived from the formula Distance in metres between two successive stanchions x 300N/m. The test shall be carried out on all different configurations of stanchion and handrail arrangement that a system adopts in its design. Therefore a test shall be carried out on an end stanchion as well as an intermediate stanchion.
Simply put, if the system has been tested with a counterbalance every 2m and uprights every 2m, then it must be installed with counterbalances every 2m and uprights every 2m. This sounds obvious, but drawings must be checked and verified for compliance with their test certificate. Tests have confirmed that where the distance between counterbalances on long runs extends beyond the systems' tested tolerances, then the effectiveness of the roof edge protection system can be brought into serious question.
The implications for installer safety are grave; so too is the potentially ruinous cost and damage to the employer that would result from entirely avoidable litigation.
B U L L E T I N Kee Klamp is a company with more than 60 years experience in guardrailing solutions. In addition to its KeeGuard system and its Kee Klamp fittings range, the company provides tubular solutions for interior or exterior balustrading applications with its Keenect and Keeline systems. The company is certified to BS EN ISO 9001 and is recognised as an Investor in People. For more information: Kee Klamp 1 Boulton Road, Reading RG2 0TQ Tel: 0118 931 1022 Fax: 0118 931 1146 www.keeklamp.co.uk More articles from Kee Safety Limited: | 
