• 30
• Jul
• 2019

Sloping and pitched roofs are a common sight on buildings across Scotland.

Often found on social housing or commercial buildings, sloped roofs offer many benefits over other types of design, including superior drainage and weather protection, as well as better insulation thanks to their more compact nature.

However, sloping roofs provide a unique access challenge for maintenance or cleaning, being much more difficult to access safely.

The challenge

Unlike flat roofs, sloped roofs make it impossible to install plant and equipment such as air conditioning units, which does minimise the need to physically access the roof. Unfortunately there will still be reasons to access the roof, such as to repair or reseal the surface, or to repair or maintain solar panels, which are a common feature.

Unlike flat roofs, which can usually be fully protected by guardrail and therefore safely accessed by most competent, trained individuals with permission and supervision, not everyone can access a steep roof.

Collective protection such as guardrail, generally, will not be suitable to protect a sloping roof, unless the pitch is below 10 degrees. Instead, a form of personal protection should be used.

These systems will usually rely on an anchor point and generally should only be used by one person at a time.

What are the options?

Many people might consider scaffolding when it comes to sloped roofs, but this can be seriously cost prohibitive, and will increase the length of time it takes to do the job, as well as introducing a host of problems and risks to your site. What might be a simple task can become incredibly complex very quickly.

If the roof has a reasonable pitch and is not overly steep, you may be able to use a lifeline system, such as KeeLine. This will allow up to three users to clip on with a harness and lanyard and work in fall restraint or fall arrest. However, a steeper roof will require a specialised solution.

At Roof Edge, we supply and install specially designed roof mounted anchors for sloped roofs, which provide a safe and cost effective solution for pitched roof safety.

Independently tested to EN 795, EN 517 and CE approved to PPE Directive, our slope mounted roof anchors can be installed directly to the roof’s structure, and allow a single user to attach via a safety lanyard and carry out work.

The roof anchor can be adjusted to fit a wide range of trusses from 45mm x 97mm up to 75mm x 250mm, and includes an external lead slate piece which maintains the integrity of the building once installed.

Suitable for most roof types including slate, tile and metal, our slope mounted roof anchors are the ideal solution for carrying out work on sloping roofs.

For more information on this or any of our products or solutions, call us on 0141 949 1014 or use our online contact form.