All work at heights involves severe risk of falling. On a flat roof, the best way to prevent such accidents is by installing a guardrail. Until now, however, guardrail anchoring systems used in Québec had never been subjected to testing for compliance with the Safety Code for the construction industry.

Having determined that the anchoring systems for the three models most used by roofers in Québec—namely, the guardrails made by Alcor, J.P. Lemieux and Innovation Malenfant inc.—do ensure adequate protection for workers and meet the withstand requirements of the Code, the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST), in conjunction with the joint OHS association ASP Construction, has published a prevention fact sheet for contractors and workers who use guardrails.

Entitled Les systèmes d’ancrage de garde-corps sur des toits plats (guardrail anchoring systems for flat roofs), the fact sheet provides the information needed to ensure that the equipment is properly and firmly installed so as to prevent falls. According to safety advisor Louise Lessard of the ASP Construction and researcher André Lan of the IRSST, “By applying the instructions in this fact sheet, workplaces can make sure their guardrails are safe and provide adequate protection for workers, especially roofers, whose job ranks among the most hazardous.”

Read the prevention fact sheet (in French only) at http://www.irsst.qc.ca/media/documents/PubIRSST/RF-768.pdf.

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Source
Jacques Millette
Responsable des affaires publiques
IRSST

et

Linda Gosselin
Conseillère en communications
ASP Construction