Having Work Done on Your Roof? Ask Your Contractor to Play It Safe

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Campaign to Prevent Falls in Construction (U.S.) ; Massachusetts Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Project (Massachusetts FACE)
• Description:
  It only takes a few simple questions... Asking a few questions can save someone's life! Did you know? Every year, nationwide, about 100 construction workers are killed in falls from roofs and around 1,300 are seriously injured. Here in Massachusetts, 44 of the 78 construction worker deaths from 2007-2011 were due to falls. In most cases, the workers who fell from roofs were not using adequate fall protection. Ask the contractor a few simple questions before you sign a contract: Are you licensed? Do you have workers' compensation insurance? (Ask to see a copy of the insurance certificate.) Do your workers work directly for your company? (If they are "independent contractors" they are not covered by workers' compensation.) Will your workers be using fall protection, such as lifelines or guardrails, while on the roof? If the prospective contractor answers "No" to any of these questions, look for another contractor. There's a chance you could share in liability if there were a serious incident on your property. Falls are the leading cause of death among construction workers, and falls from rooftops are the most common type of fall. Even years of experience does not negate the need for safety equipment. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Construction Industry Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Construction Workers Fall Protection Injury Prevention Roofers Roof Falls Safety Equipment
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Publisher:
  Massachusetts Department of Public Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Lay Publications
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20061250
• Citation:
  Boston, MA: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2013 Nov; :1-2
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training, Silver Spring, Maryland
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20090901
• Source Full Name:
  Having work done on your roof? Ask your contractor to play it safe
• End Date:
  20240831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a4f9274d1f567cdad8784b437f348f01c18c7b09b62c08fd2885e2e0457dc55aa3a27622818cb854fcff59e6cad15387cf9756607019717c265cfd7fdde8bb44
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/229059/cdc_229059_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 546.36 KB ]