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Here’s a recap:

Did you know that MEM handles on average more than 11,500 employee injuries per year? Our goal is to reduce that number. Many of those are construction-related injuries, and we know that aside from driving, employees are most at risk when their feet are off the ground.

“If that number trended down, how much better off would our Missouri employers and employees be?” said Mark Woodward, Senior Safety & Risk Trainer at MEM.

The good news is that roofing falls and falls from height can be prevented with the right plan and equipment.

“When we look at the injuries that come in from rooftop falls, we know that 100 percent of the time, no fall protection gear was utilized,” Woodward said. “We know that if employers don’t require fall protection gear on roofing jobs, they are at significantly higher risk.”

If you missed our roofing webinar, you can watch it now:

Not able to tune in? Then here are a few takeaways and safety best practices that you can use from the presentation:

First: Don’t forget the basics.

• Do you have a written seat belt and distracted driving policy?
• Do you have a drug-free workplace policy?
• What’s your injury reporting plan?
• Do you offer post-employment offer physicals?
• Is it on a sticker on a piece of equipment or does the safety plan live in a binder on a shelf? Where can you find the examples of your safety rules?

The jobsite is where the hazards are. What’s in your plan?

• Identify safety needs before the work begins.
• Do you have the right gear? Proper anchor points and harnesses for the roof? Eye and face protection?
• Is the safety gear customized for the job?
• Are employees trained on how to use their protection equipment?
• Are you prepared to change your setup and gear as the job changes?
• Do you have 100 percent tie-off and fall protection on the site?

Are you documenting along the way?

• Are you making a log of which employees received training and when? That includes when safety meetings are conducted.
• See a photo of an unsafe condition? Document it.
• Did you give yourself credit and document when you fixed that unsafe condition?
• Inspect the jobsite regularly. And document that inspection.

Ladders are the most dangerous piece of equipment on the jobsite.

• Inspect ladders regularly.
• Require safety policies to be acknowledged specifically around ladders.
• Require that all ladders be secured to prevent tip over, fall back or kick out.
• Require that ropes and other aids are used to lift tools to enable three points of contact.
• Mounting and dismounting ladders is where most injuries occur.

Noncompliance has costs. Spend on prevention, not fines.

• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has a zero-tolerance policy for working without fall protection when employees can fall off of leading edge hazards.
• Residential fall protection violations generate the most OSHA citations with more than 4,700 issued in 2019.
• You could experience a dramatic swing in your workers compensation rates when injuries are prevented and claims are managed properly.
• Review your losses and learn from them. Why did the incident occur? Why were the costs not contained?

Keep going! Take your roofing safety practices further with these resources:

1. Request Training from MEM
2. More on Roofing Safety from the MEM WorkSAFE Podcast
3. OSHA Fall Protection Resources
4. How to Have a Safety Stand Down
5. Keeping Your Employees Drug Free Drug-Free
6. New Hire Safety Toolkit
7. Residential Roofing Poster from MEM