Focus

Everyone in the roofing industry knows there are risks involved with working on roofs. And one of the most common risks is worker falls. To learn how to better prevent falls and gather data about falls, NRCA has partnered with the National Safety Council (NSC) to undertake an 18-month study of risk factors associated with roofing-related falls.

According to NSC, lack of fall protection is the most common safety violation in the roofing industry, and a look at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection records from 1992-95 shows more than 35 percent of falls in the construction industry involve a lack of fall protection. Armed with this knowledge, NSC’s and NRCA’s goal is for the study to provide a database of loss-control efforts; identify risk factors associated with falls and how potential risk factors are related to specific scenarios; identify risk factors that have the most effect on the probability and/or severity of falls; evaluate and refine existing and proposed fall-protection methods, training programs, personal protective equipment design specifications, and regulatory standards and guidelines; and influence building design and building code groups. This data will be used to develop training, educational and management tools for roofing contractors.

To help NRCA and NSC reach these objectives, NRCA is asking contractors to voluntarily participate in the study. Participants will be asked to call NSC whenever a fall or nearly missed fall occurs and answer a few questions related to the incident. (Nearly missed falls include incidents where an imminent fall was avoided by an intervening factor.) Participants will be asked questions about the nature of the fall, worker experience, fall protection, roof system type, time and date of the fall, and weather conditions.

All information gathered will be confidential—no company names, worker names, business locations or job locations will be released.

To learn more about how to participate in the study, contact Harry Dietz, NRCA’s director of risk management, at (800) 323-9545, Ext. 7502, or hdietz@nrca.net. Potential participants must indicate their interest in the study by Sept. 30.

Ambika Puniani is editor of Professional Roofing magazine and NRCA's director of communications.