In this article I will try to bust the eight myths about slide guards for roof workers.
Not a year goes by that I don't hear from a few builders on the subject of slide guards used as fall protection devices on roofs. While most of these residential contractors are predominantly framers and roofers, I occasionally hear from plumbers, electricians and other trades-persons who also make access onto residential roofs. After a brief discussion, it soon becomes clear that they are all working without the facts. In this article I will try to bust the eight myths about slide guards for roof workers.
ANSI describes a toe board as a component of a guardrail system, as having a nominal 4-inch height and structure capable of resisting 50 pounds of force applied horizontally at mid-length without failure. Therefore, it is unlikely that such an assembly was intended to prevent a rapidly sliding 200-pound roofer from falling off of an 8:12 pitch roof. OSHA's term for this site-constructed precautionary device is a slide guard. But whatever they're named, their purpose is to prevent workers unfortunate enough to slip or trip on the roof deck from continuing to slide down the slope and inevitably drop off the eave to the ground below.