Powerlines pose a significant hazard for roofers, yet they can sometimes go overlooked. Ahead, Patrick Falzon, powerline safety specialist with Electrical Safety Authority (ESA), discusses what contractors can do to bring the number of electrocution injuries and fatalities down to zero.
What steps can roofers take to stay safe around powerlines?
One of the first and most important things any roofing team must do is assess the site. It’s not safe to go out there and start doing the work; you need to take time during the estimate phase or early planning steps to see where the work is being done and how close the home or building is to a powerline.
What if an assessment reveals that the building is very close to a powerline?
In short: you can’t work under those conditions. Roofers can’t just say, “No big deal,” and work around those active wires because even though some of them are insulated, a lot of them are not, and you cannot trust the integrity of the insulation of the wires.
If you are going to be working close to a power line, you need to call the local utility and have the power safely disconnected. Some utilities will allow one free disconnect and reconnect per year, especially if it’s a lower voltage wire that goes into the house itself. That’s why assessing power line locations early is important because utilities can’t just go out the next morning after you call and disconnect it. They need time to prepare.
If, for some reason, the utility can’t safely disconnect the power line, the next step is to have a conversation with them on safety measures. At the end of the day, though, the Occupational Health and Safety Act makes it very clear that the employer is the one who needs to come up with all means of protecting all workers from shock and arc flash hazards.
What other powerline tips should workers be mindful of while working?
After that initial assessment, and after you verify if you can safely meet those clearances or not, it’s important to get everyone who is going to be working on the site together to discuss the hazards they’ll be facing when working around powerlines. They need to be aware of where those lines are and that they don’t touch them with any tools or roofing components that can serve as conductors, like ladders or eavestroughs. We had an incident like that a few years ago where a roofer contacted a line with an eavestrough and had his hands severely burnt.
Secondly, you want to assess the wind conditions that day. If it is windy up there, those gusts might blow your equipment and your tools into the powerlines. We’ve seen fatalities because of that.
Are there certain jobsite factors that contribute to powerline injuries?
We find many powerline incidents occur by the end of the day when workers are hot, exhausted, and eager to pack up and get home. That’s when they’re more likely to forget the hazards around them and take their safety for granted because they’ve been hauling their tools up and down all day without incident.
What can be done to keep roofers aware of these risks and safety practices?
From ESA’s point of view, training is extremely important. It’s always the employer’s responsibility, and there are a lot of resources out there to help. For example, roofers have to go through the Working at Heights training with Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA), but what they may not realize is that the IHSA also provides training about electrical hazards. A lot of utilities will also invite local contractors and roofing stakeholders out at the beginning of the year for safety talks.
However it occurs, there needs to be some element of powerline safety training. This isn’t something a contractor can leave to chance because you can’t turn back time when there’s an injury or fatality.
What resources does ESA provide to enhance roofing safety?
ESA has a number of powerline safety resources. For example, we offer high-profile signs that can be posted to remind workers to always be on the lookout for overhead power lines, as well as ladder tags which serve as an additional reminder for workers to detach their ladders every time they’re around overhead wires. We also have powerline safety information on our website, including guidelines, insights, and links to other supports. Ultimately, our goal is to bring awareness to this very real safety risk and bring those powerline incident rates down to zero.
Visit ESASAFE.com for more powerline safety insights and resources.
