Staying Safe While Scaling Heights

By Adam Cabrera. 

Make sure you’re not stepping on-site before prepping for every risk. 

In a recent episode of Roofing Road Trips, Heidi J. Ellsworth talks fall protection with experts, Cheryl Ambrose and Rich Trewyn of the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA). Their insights shed light on an issue all too familiar to the construction sector: the risk of deadly falls. 

Cheryl, NRCA's vice president of enterprise risk management, underscored the unique dangers that roofers face. “Every safety professional across the construction industry knows that falls are a big issue,” she added. 

A study from the Center for Construction Research and Training found that a considerable number of fall incidents result from the absence of fall protection planning, training, and self-rescue measures. Cheryl pointed out, "Planning certainly was the top thing. Adequate planning was an underlying key." A key solution Cheryl says is to ensure that workers understand fall protection policies, making them "more likely to do so, in fact, like eight times." 

Rich, the director of enterprise risk management at NRCA, emphasized the seriousness of the dangers. "I've been one of those people that has experienced a fatality in the industry, and it's not a pleasant thing." He advises, "A roofer should not go out onto a job site without practicing everything that could possibly happen to them." 

Both experts agreed on the importance of self-rescue training. Rich points to the variety of courses NRCA offers, "from a full day to two days, and topic-specific ones like rescue training." He stated, "What we do with rescue training is show how you can delay those effects and properly rescue yourself after a fall." 

Investing in proper training and preparing workers for self-rescue is not only a responsibility but a life-saving priority in the roofing industry.