SAFETY

Here at Mountain Roofing Systems, we take the safety of our crew very seriously. Before a newly hired employee ever sets foot on a roof, they must first go through our rigorous safety training. We also have annual refresher training with all of our employees, by doing this we keep safety at the forefront of everyone’s minds and it is the perfect time to go over any new OSHA rules and regulations.

Our safety training program includes training on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), this teaches the crew about the uses of safety glasses, work gloves, face masks, ear plugs/earmuffs and hard hats. During PPE training they learn the dangers of roofing to their eyes, hands, ears, and head, and how to protect themselves from these dangers as well as what protection is best for the specific task they are working on. Along with PPE training, they learn about ladder safety including proper handling and set up of step ladders and extension ladders and how to choose the proper ladder. Each Year 160,000 people are injured as the result of falls from ladders due to not following safety precautions.   As roofers, ladders are an extensive part of the job and is a mandatory training.

Finally, we train on fall protection. Every day, our crew is working on roofs between one and three stories and a fall from these heights can be fatal. We go over the different types of fall protection and how they are used. The most common type of fall protection and what we use most is a safety harness with an anchor and rope. Every new employee is provided with a new fall protection kit. This method will stop someone who falls from hitting the ground. Of course, this also leads to its own problem, if you fall, you are hanging from the roof, on a rope, possibly 10 or more feet from the ground. So, the final part of safety training is self-rescue. During self-rescue training, they are shown how to properly put on and fit the safety harness, once the harness is fitted properly, we explain the process to self-rescue. Once we are confident that they understand how to self-rescue, they are suspended, a short distance from the ground, giving them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.

We work in a dangerous trade, there is no way to eliminate the dangers completely, but we feel that with proper safety training, our crew will be able to do their work as safely as possible.