“What’s one less roofer?” the homeowner said to me

Working as a roofer might be the hardest gig in our industry. It’s obviously dangerous working at heights. You’re up there crazy hours in season. You work in a blast furnace of heat. So being tough is part of your mindset, if you wanna survive in the business.

Unfortunately, being “tough” causes too many roofers to also play stupid –  gambling on safety by not wearing the legally-required fall-restricting or fall arrest equipment.

For this reason, I targeted roofers for my recent residential job site visits and it was a easy to catch whole crews working without fall equipment. A few vanished over roof lines when they spotted me, then reappeared tied to lifelines. I was ahead of the game, viewing them from a series of angles before appearing. I wasn’t there to fine them – I’m not with the MOL. But the MOL inspectors operate the same way, they view the safety infraction long before they make themselves known to the workers.

You’d think I’d get abuse. Sometimes I do, but not often. Many of the roofers I visited said it was a wake up call to have me there instead of the MOL. But will my visits really make a difference? Certainly not for one crew who removed their lifelines after I left. Little did they know I’d return shortly afterward.

Another crew of three guys were about 27 feet up there with no safety equipment in sight and both ladders badly leaning sharply to one side – something like the tower of Pisa, but not as secure.

The person on the ground I talked to turned out to be the homeowner. I pointed skyward towards the guys on his property working unsafely and in non-compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act. I couldn’t believe what he said next:

“What’s one less roofer?”

That could have been his son or daughter up there.

Some of the roofer I talked to who had no safety gear actually volunteered to showed me their Fall Training course completion cards (now Working at Heights Standard from April 1, 2015). But the MOL roofers’ safety blitz, if they were onsite, wouldn’t bother with the cards – they’d already be busting these roofers for their lack of equipment.

If someone takes a 25-foot plunge and gets impaled through the chest on a neighbours fence, a Fall Training card is not going to help matters very much. Nor will the card save the site supervisor/foreman – or the business owner – from prosecution for failing to protect this worker. And the MOL would want to see the company’s written safety plan for this site. No, “Call 9-11” is not a safety plan. (If you want to know what a proper safety plan looks like, give us a call!)

This week’s featured online e-course HEAT STRESS: Learn to recognize symptoms of heat exhaustion and prevent serious illness or injuries that can result from ignoring heat safety protocols.

CARAHS can answer any questions you might have on working safe to protect your workers and yourself from the risk of fines, job site closure and prosecution. Call us toll free 1 866 366 2930.

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