Thursday, January 17, 2013

Fall Protection Is Critical

Eavestroughing obviously requires working at heights. Safety gear and proper training is essential to keep everyone safe. Did you know that if we are working over 10 feet high we must use fall protection equipment as required by law?

Falls are the leading cause of traumatic workplace death in Ontario. This is why it's essential to hire professionals who work safely by using fall protection and are trained in fall protection.

We will show some pictures and a video of what we do to stay safe on a 3 storey home with a steel roof. The homeowner really wanted new eavestroughs with leaf guard to reduce the frequency of cleaning needed. According to the owner, past eavestrough cleaners always had a hard time reaching the eavestrough and never used any fall protection. The homeowner was concerned for their safety and also her liability if something bad was to happen.

We use approved safety equipment to arrest a fall if a worker was to fall off a ladder or roof. Cedric shown about half way up to the top installing a downspout.

safety tying off on Toronto jobsite


Approved safety equipment is fastened with a steel plate that is either bolted under a shingle on your roof or into the end of a rafter underneath your soffits as shown below. The roof was steel so we could not fasten to the roof in this case. A few soffit panels are removed temporarily to gain access to a secure spot to fasten to.

Tying off to rafter


Correct ladder set up and safety ropes make the job safe. When a worker feels safe they can then focus on quality.  Many in our industry wonder how to tie off with ropes properly so we hope this is of some benefit to those who work in the roofing or eavestroughing business. Nick is shown taking down the ropes and reinstalling the soffit after the eavestrough was installed.



 Many homeowners and people in the eavestrough business wonder how we tie off with ropes properly. We hope this blog is of benefit to them.


We made this video in Toronto to give an overview of the difficulties of houses that are higher, have steel roofs and also are in proximity to other homes:


Visit our website www.eavestrough.ca if you would like a quote for your eavestrough and leaf guard system. North Shore Eavestroughing 415 615 0443.