As a part of National Safety Month, which concluded a few days back, we wanted to bring attention to something that needs more awareness: job site safety.

The statistic that should bring this into perspective for everyone is roofing falls are at their highest rate in 26 years. Training, safety, and supervision are all critical elements to ensuring workers on the job site remain safe. Many people have a tendency to rush when they are busy with the perception that it will make them more efficient. When in reality, the more careful person will save time and, in many cases, their life or the life of someone they're working with.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that within that the construction industry represented 19 percent of all worker deaths in 2017, with roofers ranking fourth among all occupations with a death rate of 45.2 per 100,000 full-time workers.

Examples of Best Practices for Jobsite Safety

This is clearly an issue that needs more awareness and better "best practices" for safety and job site practices. At New Look, we train our employees extensively and use standard methods for safety and job site procedures to ensure that everyone remains safe. Some of the best practices that we model and want to bring out in this article are as follows:

1. Ensuring extension ladders are at least three feet above the landing position of the roof to give the roofer stability and something to grab onto when they transition off the ladder.

2. Using secure harness systems to avoid falls. This also allows our team to work and more efficiently around the job site.

3. Keeping our worksite clean of excess tools, debris, and dirt to stay organized.

4. Proper footwear to gain better traction on the surface to avoid falls and lost footing.

5. Making sure everyone on the team is aware of existing skylines and solar flares that are weaker points of the roof.

Some of these things seem like common sense, but you would be surprised how many injuries and even deaths occur each year due to people skimming over the fundamentals to save a few extra minutes.

Share for National Safety Month!

If you happen to be reading this, please share this for National Safety Month to highlight the importance of safety to encourage other individuals and new businesses to carry on the practice of good, quality, onsite safety.

Thanks for stopping by!

- New Look Roof Team

For any questions or comments, please feel free to email us at jwest@newlookroofs.com, we hope you have a great day and thanks for reading! 

- Julian