When you established your company, you likely put together standard operating procedures. Among those should be an adequate safety plan. However, if you are new to the industry, you likely don’t know where to begin when it comes to creating a safety plan for your team, your crews, and your clients.
Where to Start
The roofing industry is a lucrative industry, but without proper safety, you will set your company up to fail. Your employees are your greatest resource. Without them, your company could not exist. This also goes for your clients, without them, you would be out of business sooner than you started. Your safety plan should focus on keeping both your employees and your clients safe.
To provide a safe work atmosphere for everyone, develop a safety plan that establishes policies and guidelines. Include workplace practices, safety equipment, personal protective equipment, hazard communication training, emergency, and any other procedure needed to maintain safety in your workplace.
It is also important that your safety plan comply with all federal, state, and local guidelines.
Free Guide: How to Switch to Commercial
Follow OSHA Guidelines
It is well understood that OSHA is there to protect everyone. While some of their policies might seem nit-picky, each one was established for a reason.
Think of it like touching a hot stove. You know not to do it, but at some point as a child you had to be told NOT to do it. OSHA guidelines are created from the need that someone needed to be told. As you set up your company policies, it is recommended that you get to know the ins and outs of OSHA and what is expected from your company.
Here is a helpful breakdown: OSHA Commercial Roofing Regulations
Third-Party Safety Solutions
If this all seems overwhelming, you’re not alone. There are teams of people dedicated to providing contractors with safety solutions and assessments. We live in an age of technology, with information right at our fingertips. You can find safety trainings online or in person that go over fall protection, safety hazards, OSHA regulations, and more.
Safety Plan Goals
The goal of your safety plan is to eliminate injuries and health hazards. You must recognize that there are potential safety issues on each jobsite and provide your team with solutions to handle them with caution.
You should also understand the human component to safety. Most people feel invincible; until a safety event happens. Your team is likely to remember the detailed safety plan if you practice what you preach and preach often. This means having daily safety conversations, safety plans for each project, and leading your team by example.
Chemical breakdown. Depending on the roofing system installed, outdoor temperatures of a comfortable 90°F can quickly become a blistering 160° on the roofing surface! Some roofing system materials absorb and retain that heat, rather than reflecting it away from the building. With surface temperatures that extreme, the chemical compounds within the materials can begin to break down. Over time, this leads to roofing system failure. Unfortunately, this breakdown is almost impossible to see to the naked eye and you are only aware it has occurred when the next rainstorm advises you.
PVC, which stands for polyvinyl chloride, in the right hands will deliver high-quality, long-lasting protection for your building. These roofing systems have been delivering trusted protection for decades and continue innovation so they can adapt with the increasing demands in roofing today. Comprised of a single layer, PVC roofs are a member of the single-ply membrane family and are a thermoplastic.
There is no shortage of different marketing approaches and that leaves the door open to opportunities that will work for you. Determining which approaches will work best for you and your company to reach your goals is easier when you call on professionals.
In the most basic definition, a “commercial” roof is one that sits over a business, rather than a personal home or multi-tenant building. For most, that would include industrial buildings, strip malls, hospitals and the like.
There are a few drawbacks when considering switching to commercial roofing.
These are the top 5 OSHA violations to consider when trying to reduce your number of violations and minimize how much of your time is lost due to a bad situation.
