At RMS Grantham the safety of our operatives, customers and the public are a top priority. We often employ the 'Soter Horizontal Safety System' and are capable of installing, checking and certifying Soter systems. Where it is impractical to install Soter systems we employ temporary and/or permanent edge protection, including the installation of 'Roof Mounted Hand Rail' systems.
SOTER Horizontal Safety System
Soter is a system comprised of safety lines attached to the roofs outer skin or substrate onto which operatives attach harnesses to act as a work restraint or fall arrest system. The system incorporates fully stainless steel posts and components to ensure years of trouble free and safe accessibility.
Work Restraint System
Work restraint systems are designed to prevent a fall from occuring, normally by preventing a person attached to the system to reach beyond the roof. These systems are rigorously tested in conjunction with the roof skin/substrate material and roof design before installation to ensure that their use will not damage the roof or potentially fail to act as a work restraint system. To function well, work restraint systems are typically installed 2.3m away from any potential fall.
The work restraint systems allow for any future operatives using the roof to use it with minimal PPE training and is generally the recommended starting point when designing a bespoke horizontal safety line system.
Fall Arrest System
If the Soter safety systems is found to be impractical due to the roof design or the intended roof access, a 'Fall Arrest' system can then be devised. Fall arrest systems are in place to prevent a fall from height ending in serious injury. Soter Systems which are designed as fall arrest systems are rigorously tested in conjunction with the type of outer skin or substrate they are being attached to and are only installed when they can withstand a force of twice that actually caused by a fall without risk of damaging the roof or fixings.
A fall arrest system requires more input from a design point of view and should always be backed up with published calculations applicable to the roof substrate type. This type of system requires extensive PPE & system training of which all RMS Grantham operatives are fully qualified.
Benefits
The benefits of a Soter system include a robust work restraint system, a simple and practical roof access feature and can also reduce future maintenance costs regarding the health and safety involved with people working at height. The Soter system can be used on a huge variety of roofs and has been developed to withstand such problems as thermal movement and are at the forefront of safety system design.
Egde Protection
Where edge protection is required for access other than gutter cleaning and maintenance a form of edge protection not requiring the use of a harness can be desirable. In other cases permanent edge protection may be undesirable due to a lack of required roof access - in which cases temporary edge protection can be used in many forms.
Roof Mounted Hand Rail
Handrails act as an edge safety system that conforms to all safety standards. They are easy to assemble and work with and eliminate the need for scaffolding to be built from ground level up, making it cost effective and quicker to install.
Handrails can be installed as temporary or permanent fixtures, and are suitable for all high level maintenance and re-roofing. They can accomodate pitched roofs as well as flat roofs, and some systems include support legs which can be raised when working to a roof edge.
Scaffolding & Working Platforms
On smaller roofs or during work that does not take place within several meters of a flat roof edge, full edge protection may not be necessary for the entire roof. In these cases scaffolding with edge protection can be erected in the area required. This can save time where full roof edge protection is excessive.
Simmilarly, if operatives working on the gutter or very perimeter of the roof do not intend to alight onto the roof itself (for instance if the roof is fragile and operatives would have to work from lightweight stagings) they may perform the work from a Mobile Elevated Working Platform. These working platforms have built-in edge protection, and save time on erecting edge protection.
Advisory Services
We are always happy to offer an advisory service and provide it free of charge inclusive with all our other work.